JAMES Golding’s path back to a full-time Repco Supercars Championship seat with PremiAir Racing has been officially cleared.
The 26-year-old is set to replace the recently ousted Garry Jacobson aboard PremiAir’s Subway Commodore from this weekend’s Townsville 500.
Pre-empting an announcement from PremiAir expected later today, Team 18 has confirmed that Golding has been released from his co-driving duties.
Golding was set to return to Charlie Schwerkolt’s team for a third consecutive Bathurst campaign, linking with Scott Pye.
He joined Team 18 following a two-year stint as a full-time Supercars driver at Garry Rogers Motorsport, which pulled out of the championship at the end of 2019.
“Team 18 has shelved plans to have James Golding as an endurance co-driver with the team for the upcoming Bathurst 1000,” a Team 18 statement confirmed.
“Golding had been slated to re-join Scott Pye for this year’s Great Race but has elected to pursue another opportunity.
“Team 18 wishes to extend their thanks to Golding for his contribution to the team over the past two years as an endurance co-driver and wish him well on his future endeavours.
“Team 18 will assess its options for a new co-driver to join Scott Pye for the 2022 Bathurst 1000 and will make an announcement in due course.”
Added Schwerkolt: “James has been a great endurance driver for us over the past couple of years, and we thank him for his efforts with our Bathurst 1000 campaigns.
“We have some really exciting options on the table to select a new co-driver for Scott and we look forward to making an announcement as soon as we can.”
Team 18 already has Michael Caruso locked in to share its IRWIN Racing Commodore with Mark Winterbottom.
