Following the 28 th and final race of the 2023 Supercars Championship at the Adelaide 500 today, Nulon Racing is already looking ahead to season 2024 and what it needs to achieve in the off-season to set its two Nulon Racing Camaros up for success.
“That is season 2023 done, and season 2024 has already been being thought about for the last two months,” Nulon Racing Team Manager, Stephen Robertson, said.
“We won’t really be having a break; we will keep on rolling right through Christmas. Everyone will have a little time off of course, but we want to keep the momentum going of what the team has built on this year, so we can come out
swinging next year.”
The Gold Coast based team started off its Adelaide Sunday with its second Top Ten Shootout berth of the weekend, with Jimmy Golding again qualifying the #31 Nulon Racing Camaro P10 and this time advancing to a starting position
of P7 for this afternoon’s race.
While maintaining position in the top ten early, the first pit stop for the #31 saw it all come undone when the team was penalised with a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release, which resulted in contact with Macauley Jones. Golding would resume with an unsettled car and did his best to bring the entry home in P20.
While Tim Slade’s day didn’t start off as well in the #23 Nulon Racing Camaro, the South Aussie was able to have a relatively straightforward race and move forward through the pack to finish the race four spots higher than what he started, crossing the line P16 with a car that was improving as the race went on.
“That is the racing season done and dusted and what a perfect place to finish the year here in Adelaide,” Slade said.
“It was another average day for us, we didn’t really qualify well. Similar to yesterday the car got better throughout the race, but we just lost too much time in the earlier stints.
“There is plenty of work to be done in the off-season and hopefully we can come back bigger and better next year. In the meantime, thank you to the entire team for all of their heard work this year.”
While Golding was disappointed with the pit lane incident, he was quick to point out the positives of the weekend while looking ahead to the new season.
“It was pretty cool to be in the Top Ten Shootout again, and I plucked off a few positions in the shootout to move into P7 to start the race,” Golding explained.
“I settled in there at the start of the race and although we struggled a bit with rear tyre life and had made some changes to the car which didn’t really work out for us, what ultimately ruined our race was a drive through penalty for contact in pit lane.
“We will go over all that happened and work out what needs to be changed so it doesn’t happen again, but in the meantime, I am sorry to Macauley and also to all of our team to end our season this way.
“We do have a lot of positives to take out of the year. As a young team only starting out last season, we have shown we can be pretty competitive at times, it is just about getting that consistency and trying to be faster more often than not.
“We will put in a lot of work over the off-season and I want to thank everyone for their support over the year. I can’t wait to be back next year.”
Golding’s engineer, Simon Hodge, enjoyed the final event of his ‘loan’ from Triple Eight Race Engineering this weekend.
“It was a real positive start to the day and we went into the race with a bit of confidence. Unfortunately, the contact set us back and the car wasn’t quite the same after that, so we battled on, but it wasn’t the result we were hoping for,” Hodge said.
“It is disappointing to end such a great four rounds I have had here with the Nulon Racing team on that kind of result, but it has been great to work with Jimmy and the team over that time and I can see the steps forward they have made. I wish them all the best for 2024.”
The Nulon Racing Supercars will first roll-out for the 2024 Supercars season for a pre-season test on February 5 at Queensland Raceway before heading not the season-opening Bathurst 500 across February 23-25. For the full Supercars season calendar, visit www.supercars.com.au
While the Supercars outfit may be officially in the off-season now, it is anything but for the team’s Top Fuel arm, with team owner Peter Xiberras and the PremiAir Hire Top Fuel Dragster set to compete at Sydney Dragway this coming Saturday, December 2 for the one-day Top Fuel Xmas Showdown. For event info, go to www.sydneydragway.com.au
For more information on Nulon Racing, please visit www.premiairracing.sailorstudio.net 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
