Golding fourth is a step in the right direction
Peter Xiberras was smiling at the end of the first race for the weekend in Darwin, despite James Golding coming home in fourth after starting the race from pole and leading the race’s opening laps. He was bundled out of the lead by an aggressive Broc Feeney, but for Xiberras, the big picture was more important.
“Look, you’ve got to take the little gains to qualify where we did and starting on the front row for us is just an amazing feeling,” Xiberras said after the race, “there’s probably people that will say it was disappointing not getting on the podium, but not me.
“I’m taking it step-by-step, and that was a job well done. We’ll come back tomorrow a little better, and hopefully, we can get that one better.”
Golding was impacted first by the pass by Feeney, which raised questions up and down the pitlane – Feeney was later confident the pass was cleanly executed – and then by the need to pause in pitlane while Anton De Pasquale trundled past at precisely the wrong moment.
“It’s racing, and Broc had to do what he had to do. The disappointing thing was when Broc got past, he opened the door to Frosty. So good luck to them; it is a little disappointing, but that’s racing.”
He said he felt the pitstop baulk was more costly.
“I reckon we lost a good two seconds there, but that’s one of the downsides of being at the back of pit lane. Hindsight’s a wonderful thing, and we elected for two tyres, but we could have taken four because of the baulk, and maybe we could have pushed harder for the podium then.
“But if you look at the positives, it looks like we’ve moved up two garage spots today, which is good. Hopefully, we can maintain that tomorrow or even do another one.”
“We will just keep going, and hopefully, we can finish this year the way we’re going now and move further up. It’s all about keeping on ticking boxes.”
He added that what was more important was the consistent speed shown by both cars over the weekend.
Golding was the 72nd pole winner in the Australian Touring Car Championship and finished the race in fourth. Tim Slade ended the day in 12th in the team’s other car.
Photo: Mark Horsburgh
