Richie Stanaway will continue in a full-time capacity for the 2025 Supercars season but in PremiAir Nulon colours, where he will partner James Golding.
The news follows Grove Racing’s decision to part company with 32-year-old Stanaway after only a single season, replacing him with Super2 champion Kai Allen.
This will be only the fourth full-time season for the Kiwi, with a season being spent at Tickford Racing and Garry Rogers Motorsport – where he partnered new team-mate Golding - before being utilised only in a co-driver capacity for the endurance rounds in 2022 and 2023, something he had done previously in 2016 and 2017.
Stanaway’s Supercars future had appeared to be in the balance with limited full-time opportunities remaining after Brodie Kostecki’s Dick Johnson Racing switch was confirmed, bringing to an end his successful but tumultuous period with Erebus Motorsport.
But Tim Slade’s retirement from full-time competition opened an unexpected door at PremiAir Racing, a move that will see Stanaway drive in Triple Eight-prepared machinery – the team with which he and Shane van Gisbergen won the 2023 Bathurst 1000.
“I could not be more excited about this opportunity to join PremiAir Nulon Racing,” Stanaway said.
“The passion and enthusiasm held by Peter and Carmen Xiberras and the entire team is absolutely undeniable, and the commitment they have shown in the three short years they have been a part of the Supercars championship is impressive.
“The results of that are really starting to show with their first podium coming at Sandown, and I look forward to hopefully being a part of many more great results to come from next year.”
Stanaway’s career is more varied than most in the Supercars paddock, having spent significant time racing in Europe.
He competed for the factory Aston Martin team in the World Endurance Championship alongside a single-seater career that peaked with two GP2 victories in 2015, which followed taking three wins from 22 GP3 starts.
Stanaway stormed to the German F3 title in 2011, the same year as his GP3 debut, before losing career momentum to a back injury sustained at Spa when he stepped up to Formula Renault 3.5 in 2012.
“There is no doubting Richie is exceptionally talented – you don’t have a CV like his or win the Bathurst 1000 by accident after all – and while he was forced to endure an early exit at Sandown this year, it was clear that he has what it takes, especially when the weather gods are against you,” said team boss Peter Xiberras.
“We look forward to having Richie join our team alongside Jimmy Golding and seeing what we can achieve together.”
PremiAri Nulon's signing of Stanaway means that only two seats remain open for the coming year at Brad Jones Racing, with neither Jaxon Evans nor Macauley Jones locked in.
However, team owner Brad Jones has suggested he expects to field an unchanged line-up.
This is bad news for former champion Mark Winterbottom, who appears set to miss out after being replaced at Team 18 by Anton de Pasquale.
