Jimmy Golding has secured his and the Nulon Racing team’s first Bathurst 1000 Top Ten Shootout berth today, putting the #31 Nulon Racing Camaro he is sharing with Dylan O’Keeffe this weekend on P2 in this afternoon’s qualifying session with an impressive 2m 04.8133s lap time.
The 40-minute qualifying session was littered with red flag periods; however, Golding was soon able to lay down the convincing lap to lock in his place in Saturday’s Shootout which will decide the top ten grid positions for Sunday’s Great Race.
On the other side of the garage, the #23 Movember Racing Team Camaro of Tim Slade and Jonathon Webb will start from the ninth row of the grid come Sunday’s race start, with Slade qualifying in 18th position.
Earlier in the day, both entries had two hours of practice running across two outings, with practice three focused on race prep with the #23 and #31 setting the 12th and 13th fastest times respectively, before practice four was about setting up for qualifying. With lighter fuel loads, Golding set the 7th fastest lap time, while Slade brought the #23 home in P16.
“To have our team into our very first Bathurst 1000 Shootout is a fantastic feeling,” Nulon Racing Team Manager, Stephen Robertson, said.
“We have all been working exceptionally hard on our preparations, and it is great to have that work paying off with the #31 Nulon Racing Camaro qualifying P2 today.
“For the #23 Movember Racing Team Camaro we have had a few problems to work through with brakes and handling, but we are making progress and are confident that we will be on the money with that car as well come Sunday’s race.
“The whole team is putting in 110 percent and have been all through the lead-up to this race, and I can’t thank them enough for their dedication and persistence.”
Golding was elated with his qualifying result.
“Qualifying was awesome, a PB for us as a team. It is the first Shootout for me on the Mountain and for the team, we have came close last year but to get in there is absolutely fantastic and I can’t wait to have a crack tomorrow and see how we fare. I can’t thank the guys and girls enough for all the hard work they have put in,” Golding said.
“It was a tricky session out there in qualifying; these cars seem to move around a lot more on the tyre, so it is a matter of trying to be as quick as you can but also managing the tyre and staying within the window. The track changed a lot throughout the session as well, but you just have to keep calm and push hard at the same time.
“Earlier in the day in practice, we were focusing on getting it dialled in for race trim and also for qualifying. We really showed our true pace for the first time in practice four, as we had been running around on heavy fuel loads before that, so we didn’t really know where we were.
“I am really stoked with today’s result and am looking forward to seeing what we can do tomorrow.”
Golding is sharing the #31 Nulon Racing Camaro with Dylan O’Keeffe this weekend.
“I had a good day; it was a bit more relaxed for me today. I had a few more laps in practice three to feel comfortable and focus on race trim for Sunday, and then let Jimmy do his thing and get in qualifying mode,” O’Keeffe said.
“We are not getting ahead of ourselves – yes, it is great to have awesome pace and it is exciting for the Nulon Racing Team, but at the same time our full focus is on Sunday. In the meantime, though, I am excited to see what Jimmy can do in the Shootout – he definitely deserves to be there, and it is great for the team too.”
For Tim Slade and Jonathon Webb in the #23 Movember Racing Team Camaro, it was more of a challenging day, but they are still feeling positive heading into the weekend.
“It wasn’t a great result for us in qualifying today but what an awesome job for the #31 and the team for Jimmy to go into second and the Shootout – congratulations to him and the team,” Slade said.
“We had a decent day in practice and felt like we made some progress with the car, but we just missed it in qualifying. Obviously, we are disappointed with that, but it is a long old day on Sunday, and we will work on making the race car as good as we can throughout tomorrow’s practice sessions.”
“I am looking forward to having a run tomorrow – I didn’t have a huge amount of time in the car today as it was more about getting Tim comfortable,” Webb added.
“I think we are all a bit disappointed with where we ended up, but we still have a long day to go tomorrow before we even get to the race. I will have a hour to myself, and Tim will have another good run it, and I am sure come Sunday we will be all over it.”
The Bathurst 1000 action continues Saturday with practice 5 from 10.20am to 11.20am and practice 6 from 1.00pm to 2.00pm, followed by the Top Ten Shootout at 5.05pm. The Great Race itself will kick off at 11.15am on the Sunday, running for 1000km/161 laps. For event information, visit www.supercars.com.au
Nulon Racing will be publishing a day wrap at the conclusion of each day of the event which will be emailed to subscribers, published on social media, and also available on the website. Race weekend updates will also be published across the weekend on the www.premiairracing.com website and published to social media.
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
