PREMIAIR Racing is getting a foot in the door with its 2024 support of Super2 rookie Cameron McLeod.
The Gold Coast team has taken on the responsibility of preparing the ex-James Golding ZB Commodore it is leasing to the McLeod family to run on Super2 race weekends this year.
In one sense, it’s a half-step towards PremiAir launching its own fully fledged Super2 program. In another, it’s a chance to form an early bond with one of the sport’s rising stars.
“The premise of it is we were branching into what you would call car preparation,” PremiAir team manager Stephen Robertson explained to V8 Sleuth.
“Pete (Xiberras, team owner) has an extensive collection of cars, so it made more sense for us to prepare the cars here, so that’s what we’re doing.
“We have got that car and we have got a crew on that and prepare it, then in essence Ryan (McLeod)’s crew comes in, picks it up and they go racing.
“Now we’ve extended that slightly more so we’re giving engineering support, we’re giving driver support, having a crew member embedded with them at weekends.
“So we’re dipping our toe into the Super2 thing with a long-term goal of ’25; if the main game is running as it should be, then we start looking at doing a Super2 effort by ourselves.
“But I’ve always been a big believer that it can’t just be an add-on, it needs to run by itself, otherwise you’re taking away resources and concentration from what we’re here to do, which is main game.
“I think it’s a good stepping stone for us.”
As for McLeod Jr, the grandson of 1987 Bathurst 1000 winner Peter?
“The thing is nowadays you have to invest in the drivers when they’re pretty young,” said Robertson.
“It’s a little bit of putting everything on black, but you look at Matthew Payne as a very good example with Groves, they run a really good program, identified him early, invested in him and it’s paying dividends. We have got to do the same thing.
“That’s what we’re looking at and we’ll see how it works out. I think he is very talented with what he has done and has been doing so far.”
There could even be scope for a 2024 co-drive, given PremiAir is yet to announce enduro partners for either Golding or Tim Slade.
McLeod, 19, told V8 Sleuth he wanted to align himself with a Repco Supercars Championship team to potentially open doors for the future… but first, there’s a job to do in Super2, starting with this weekend’s Bathurst season-opener.
The Coke-backed racer has form at Bathurst, winning both Super3 races in class last year before sweeping the Sports Sedans round there.
His early impressions of his Holden ZB Commodore were positive too, based on testing at Queensland Raceway.
“It definitely has more drive (than the Super3 Nissan Altima),” said McLeod.
“I don’t know if it was just the way the Nissan was set up but it definitely had more drive, more aero, a lot more stable under brakes, and I could feel little bit more torque in the motor but nothing major.”
