TOP TEN IN PERTH WHILE STRIDES FORWARD MADE ON THE EAST

Day one of PremiAir Nulon Racing’s weekend of bi-coastal racing is now complete, with a P10 result in practice for the Supercars’ Perth SuperSprint complemented by a successful Top Fuel test run for Peter Xiberras at the Nitro Champs at Sydney Dragway.

In Perth, a sole hour-long practice session was the name of the game for the Supercars field, with Tim Slade setting the 10^th fastest time in the #23 PremiAir Nulon Racing Camaro after having earlier run as high as P3 throughout the session. Jimmy Golding meanwhile was 19^th in the #31 PremiAir Nulon Racing Camaro, battling understeer issues in his racing machine.

The team utilised the hour-long session to their full advantage with a number of adjustments made throughout the time, working around two red flag periods – the first after coming after five minutes, and the second with only a few minutes left to run, thwarting any last minute opportunity for flying laps to advance up the time boards.

In Sydney, Xiberras took to the track for a pre-racing test session this afternoon, successfully completing vital preparation work around the team’s 60 foot times ahead of two NDRC Top Fuel championship rounds this weekend (one on Saturday, one on Sunday).

And that wasn’t all on the docket for PremiAir Nulon Racing today – the team is once again supporting Super2 racer Cameron McLeod in the #92 RM Racing Cars supported by PremiAir Racing ZB Commodore. McLeod contested two practice sessions today, setting the seventh fastest time in P1 before issues with the power steering late in P2 while he was sitting on the top of the time sheets saw him unable to complete a green tyre run, forcing him to settle for P20.

The action will continue tomorrow with three rounds of racing for Top Fuel in Sydney (scheduled for 11.00am, 1.30pm and 4.00pm local time), practice, qualifying and a race for Supercars in Perth (scheduled for 11.15am, 2.00pm and 5.45pm local time), and qualifying and a race for Super2 (1.00pm and 4.20pm local time). For event information, visit www.ndrc.tv and www.supercars.com

QUOTEBOARD: PERTH SUPER SPRINT – FRIDAY MAY 17, 2024

Tim Slade – #23 PremiAir Nulon Racing Camaro

“The time sheet doesn’t look too bad but that is more because of our time at the start of the session, I don’t feel we were where we needed to be at the end of the session relative to others, but we had the same problem with the car the whole way through and didn’t make any inroads, but at least it is clear in that sense – it isn’t like we are not really knowing what the problem is; we know what it is, it is just a matter of trying to get it better. It is good that we have the practice session tomorrow morning before qualifying, but the conditions will be a lot different for that session in the morning compared to what qualifying will be as it is going to be a lot cooler for that practice session versus the qualifying session in the middle of the day with a fair bit of temp, so it will be interesting to see what the car is like when it is cooler. It is just something you have to take into consideration when you make set up changes and run that early in the morning, which we didn’t do today.”

Jimmy Golding – #31 PremiAir Nulon Racing Camaro

“Obviously it was a long session so a bit different to what we are used to. We had to try and maximise the time with things we had planned to change and also things we wanted to try. I think we got a lot done, we got a lot out of it, a lot of information. Where we stand (in relation to everyone else), I am not quite sure yet, I think we will have a lot better of an indication of that after practice two.”

Peter Xiberras – PremiAir Nulon Racing Top Fuel Dragster

“It was really good to have the opportunity to do a test run at Sydney Dragway today, ahead of what is going to be an absolutely huge weekend of racing with back to back championship rounds across Saturday and Sunday. It was a good test pass and we made improvements, but we still need to do a bit better – we are about .012 seconds off the marker we need to be hitting in the 60 foot zone, and we are working really hard to find that time as it will make a huge difference to our chances of bringing home the big trophies this weekend and advancing in the championship standings. With two rounds this weekend, there is a lot to play for, a lot on the line, so you can’t afford to leave any time on the track. We are having a great time so far though, especially as this is my home track, so we have a lot of local support here which is always something special.”

Cameron McLeod – #92 RM Racing Cars supported by PremiAir Racing ZB Commodore

“Practice one was decent, we found a couple of things with the car set-up wise that I liked, and we went into practice two and the car was great, it was actually really good, the best it has felt. I was really happy with the car today, there was just one little gremlin with the power steering which kind of mucked us up there so we didn’t get our green run in (in P2), so that is going to put us back in to the second group of qualifying which is the slower half which is a bit unfortunate; but it is only qualifying and you still get the same track and everything, so I am sure we can still improve from here and make our way to the front. (When we went out in P2) on the second or third lap I thought this thing is on, I am going for it, and yeah, it was perfect (early). Obviously I did a bit of changing to my driving too with my engineer Tim. I knew it was a good lap we had done (early), but I wanted to wait to the end of the session and see where I was on green tyres, but that didn’t come. The team has been doing a mega job on the car all year on the car and it was just a small error where the power steering pump was changed, and the line was running on one of the headers, I think – I am not a mechanic – and that chewed through the line. Other than that, I think it is a good start to the weekend and we have got the car feeling pretty good so if we can convert that in qualifying and in the races it should be a good weekend.”

For more information on PremiAir 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