Saturday Report: 2023 Adelaide 500

NULON RACING READYING FOR LAST DANCE OF 2023

Following today’s Race 27 at the Adelaide 500, just 250km of racing remains for the Supercars field for 2023, with Nulon Racing currently ‘limbering up’ to make sure they can make the most of the last 78 laps of the year. 

The team will be back on-track Sunday morning for qualifying and if all goes well, a Top Ten Shootout in the middle of the day ahead of the afternoon’s last dance of the year, with all heads now deep in the data from today’s outing to be best prepared for tomorrow. 

Jimmy Golding started from P9 following his Top Ten Shootout showing in the #31 Nulon Racing Camaro, advancing a number of spots in the early stages before incurring damage from an out of control Todd Hazelwood on lap 38, for which Hazelwood received a five second penalty.  

Meanwhile, Tim Slade started from P19 in the #23 Nulon Racing Camaro and made moves off the start. While struggling with some tyre degradation and pace issues, the South Aussie also reported improving performance across the race.

“It was a frustrating day, but we will come out swinging tomorrow,” Nulon Racing Director of Engineering, Geoff Slater, said. 

“Practice three this morning went to plan as we worked on the race setup for both cars. The shootout didn’t quite go as we would have liked for #31 Nulon Racing Camaro, but just being in the top ten was a good place to start.

“Unfortunately for the #31, in the race it suffered a few contacts on the front steering which hurt its performance, tagging the wall at turn 8 on the left side which slightly damaged the steering on that side, and then the contact with Hazelwood damaged the right side, so we had both front axle corners impacted out there. 

“The #23 Nulon Racing Camaro slowly made its way forward throughout the race but struggled with rear tyre degradation, so we have a bit of homework to do for tomorrow.

“It is the last one for the year and like always we won’t be leaving any stone unturned. Like everyone, we want to finish the year out strong, so it is all eyes forward to closing out 2023 on a high.”

Golding thoroughly enjoyed his race start today, before running into trouble. 

“It wasn’t too bad for the #31 today, we qualified in the top ten and finished 9th in the shootout, which was awesome, and got a great start in the race to pluck off a couple of cars,” Golding said.

“Unfortunately, we then got caught up with an incident halfway through the race and got a bit of damage, dropping back a couple of spots. But we still brought it home in 13th and we have lots of data to look over to make it faster for tomorrow!”

Meanwhile, Slade noted that while struggling in some areas, the #23’s performance improved across the day. 

“It wasn’t an amazing race for us. We had a disappointing qualifying, so started back a bit. The start wasn’t too bad, but we didn’t have a lot of pace in the first stint, although the car did get better throughout the race with the last stint being the most competitive,” Slade explained.

“We have plenty to work on and hopefully improve overnight so we can have a stronger showing tomorrow.”

Nulon Racing will be back on-track for the final day of the 2023 Supercars season at the Adelaide 500 tomorrow, Sunday 26 November, for qualifying at 10.15am, the Top Ten Shootout at 12.05pm, and then race 28, which will kick off at 2.45pm. For full event info, go to supercars.com.au 

For more information on Nulon Racing, please visit www.premiairracing.com or follow the team on its social media platforms at www.facebook.com/PremiAirRacing/, www.instagram.com/premiair_racing/, www.linkedin.com/company/premiairracing/ and www.twitter.com/premiairracing