NO driver in ATCC/Supercars Championship history has had more podium near-misses without a breakthrough trophy than James Golding.
The PremiAir Racing ace twice went close to a long-awaited rostrum appearance last weekend in Darwin, placing fourth in both races.
The Sunday result marked the fourth time in his career he has finished fourth, having also done so in Race 2 of the 2023 Newcastle 500, as well as the 2017 Sandown 500 (co-driving with Garth Tander for Garry Rogers Motorsport).
That moves him level with David “Skippy” Parsons for the equal-most fourth-place podium determining results at a championship event without an actual podium (noting that before 2009, podiums for many years were determined by round results, not race results).
Parsons did twice taste victory in non-championship races, at the 1987 Bathurst 1000 and 1993 Sandown 500, but never quite reached the podium in a points-paying affair.
It was a glass half-full approach for Golding though, looking back on Darwin.
“We come away with two P4s, a whole load of points, and we moved up in both the teams’ and the drivers’ championship with good points for both of us,” he said.
“We also gained a lot overall with set-up changes and got a fair direction on the cars which we can use heading into Townsville.”
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His engineer, Romy Mayer, couldn’t help but note just how close they got.
“Straight after the race you always think that was so close to a podium, but obviously that is what everyone thinks!” she said.
“In the end it was an amazing weekend for us, the pole obviously was great, and then to have two P4 results in the races, I think we can be happy with that.
“We didn’t quite maximise it like the big boys up the front, but I think for us as a young and smaller team it is an amazing result and we can definitely be happy with that.”
Most fourth-place podium-determining results without a career ATCC/Supercars Championship podium:
4 – David “Skippy” Parsons
4 – James Golding
3 – Robin Bessant
3 – Don Holland
