PremiAir Racing are hunting down a steering wheel allegedly stolen from its spare Chevrolet Camaro at the Supercars’ Gold Coast 500 on the weekend.
The Peter Xiberras-owned squad put the current-spec Gen3 car, which raced last season and earlier this year, on display for the Surfers Paradise event.
But in the process of packing it up team officials realised the crucial — and costly — piece of equipment had been ripped out of the car.
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“As if the weekend couldn’t get any worse,” PremiAir wrote on Monday morning.
“After wrapping our spare car for the weekend in Boost livery and putting it on display for fans to see up close, some lowlife decided to steal the steering wheel.
“If anyone has any information, it would be greatly appreciated. We always aim to bring fans closer to the action, and it’s disheartening when things like this happen.”
PremiAir told fans the “low act” would not “stop us from trying to create great experiences”.
“We hope to prevent things like this from happening in the future,” the team said.
“It’s unfortunate that a few moronic acts can create barriers between the participants and the fans we want to connect with. We really appreciate everyone who respects the spirit of these events.
“We’re just as shocked. It’s a disappointing end to what should’ve been a positive fan experience.”
Boost founder Peter Adderton wrote: “Anyone who knows who stole the steering wheel of the display car I will give you a $1000 reward to tell me who. Not cool.”
PremiAir endured a difficult weekend in Queensland with James Golding finishing 16th on Saturday and 13th on Sunday despite qualifying sixth and ninth respectively.
A visit to the garage on Saturday cost him a podium finish and he endured another disastrous pit stop on Sunday.
After his pit crew struggled to replace his left rear wheel in the first race, in the second his Camaro was dropped too early before a new right-rear wheel was fitted.
The results dropped the 28-year-old to sixth in the drivers’ championship.
Tim Slade could only manage 18th and 17th in PremiAir’s other entry.
Supercars heads to Adelaide in November to settle the championship race.
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Supercars championship standings
1. Will Brown (Triple Eight Race Engineering) 2772 pts
2. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight) -180
3. Chaz Mostert (Walkinshaw Andretti United) -309
4. Cam Waters (Tickford Racing) -428
5. Matt Payne (Grove Racing) -909
– with AAP