Sandown engineer change for Pither

PremiAir Racing has confirmed Chris Pither will race at Sandown with a new engineer.

Pither will be skippered by veteran engineer Ken Douglas this weekend.

Douglas is no stranger to Pither, having engineered the #22 Coca-Cola Commodore earlier this year.

He previously completed stints at Triple Eight and Stone Brothers Racing.

Regular engineer Geoffrey Slater will miss Sandown due to a prior commitment.

Slater joined the team mid-season after he departed Walkinshaw Andretti United.

Sheldon Auhl took over from Douglas in Perth before he shifted to James Golding’s car.

Slater will return to the team for the ITM Auckland SuperSprint.

The change comes after PremiAir Racing enjoyed a beneficial test day at Queensland Raceway.

There, Pither and Golding acquainted with co-drivers Cameron Hill and Dylan O’Keeffe.

Pither, who scored his season-best finish of 12th at The Bend, was keen to again work with Douglas.

"We head to Sandown off the back of a productive test day,” Pither said.

“We experimented with different changes, got lots of data and went away with some changes.

"We are only halfway through the season as a new team, and we are improving as a group each round.

"We are gaining momentum and having experienced engineer Geoff Slater for the last couple rounds has been beneficial.

"Unfortunately, he won’t be here this weekend, but I am pleased to have Ken Douglas return.

“We also have a good relationship, he is a professional and we’ll get stuck in.”

Pither will also be buoyed by his parents’ first trackside appearance since the pandemic began.

“My parents are also going to be trackside from New Zealand,” he said.

"They haven’t been able to see me race since COVID started, so that will be pretty cool."

Hill and O’Keeffe will steer their respective Commodores in Friday’s Additional Driver session.

Pither and Golding will complete three 36-lap races across Saturday and Sunday.

Cars will hit the track at Sandown on Friday. Purchase your tickets now.