Day one of the Melbourne SuperSprint as part of the Australian Grand Prix has brought a busy day for PremiAir Nulon Racing and its Supercars compatriots, with two practice sessions, two back-to-back qualifying sessions, and the opening race of the weekend all fit into the Thursday schedule.
Tim Slade in the #23 PremiAir Nulon Racing Camaro came home P16 and P19 in the opening practice sessions, before qualifying 16th and 17th for races three and four respectively. Come the race – an 18-lap sprint instead of the scheduled 19 due to an extra formation lap being required – Slade had a strong opening half, running as high as P11 before struggling with car balance, ultimately finishing P15.
Jimmy Golding in the #31 PremiAir Nulon Racing Camaro was 23rd and 24th in Practice One and Practice Two, before qualifying P17 and P19 for races three and four. In race three this afternoon, a clean start was soon undone by contact on lap two, sending him to the rear of the field from where he had to persevere across the intensely fierce sprint to the checkered flag.
PremiAir Nulon Racing Competition Director, Ludo Lacroix, said there was plenty to work on ahead of the three remaining races of the Melbourne SuperSprint.
“In practice Jimmy was having some good laps but we kept going outside the track limits so we couldn’t score the laps, while Tim might not have had a great last run in P2 but overall had a pretty solid session,” Lacroix explained.
“In qualifying it was clear we hadn’t yet quite found the right ingredients to make the cars fast and get a good result, and it was very busy between quali and the race to change the gearbox in Jimmy’s car (as he wasn’t happy with the gear changing), and to get both cars into race set-up.
“In the race, Tim had a very good start and a good first half of the race, but then got caught up in a couple of fights trying to get into the top ten. He was up to P11 at one stage, and a solid contender for the ten.
“For Jimmy, there was some shenanigans on lap two but after that settled down he had some strong pace, but it was a bit of a dog fight out there – we have to qualify way better to showcase the kind of pace that we have, we have to do more.”
Tim and Jimmy elaborated further on the focus areas for their entries ahead of Friday’s race four.
“The car was half decent in the race this afternoon and everyone else was squabbling and running off the track so we were able to pick up a few positions, but we sort of fell away a bit there at the end with the same balance problems we have been chasing all day. We will have a bit of a think about it all tonight and try and be better tomorrow,” Slade said.
“It was a character-building day for sure, but it isn’t a complete write off, we have some data we can go through, and we will learn from that ahead of tomorrow’s race,” Golding said. “We have three races to go so there is a long way to go. We had glimpses of pace at some points today, but it wasn’t enough – we need to be much more consistent, especially to drive it at pace. We will dig deep and make it better for tomorrow.”
The Melbourne SuperSprint as part of the Australian Grand Prix continues with race four tomorrow (Friday March 22) at 2.55pm. Saturday will host qualifying for races five and six (9.00am – 9.40am), plus race five (5.40pm), while Sunday will conclude the event for the Supercars with race 6 at 10.25am. For event information and schedules, visit www.supercars.com.au
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
