There is no question that the entire PremiAir Nulon Racing team was on a high following our results in Darwin, but now it is time to make sure we can replicate that performance, and improve even further, moving forward.
The Townsville 500 is the next stop in our Supercars journey for 2024, a premier event on the calendar taking place on the streets of Townsville in north Queensland.
The track is renowned for its challenging layout, combining fast straights and technical corners across its 2.86 kilometres.
With two 250km races to be held across the July 5-7 weekend, we will see a return to longer races with compulsory pit stops after lap five, with each entry required to take on 100L of fuel and conduct a tyre change.
The Townsville 500 will be a special event for Jimmy Golding, driver of our #31 PremiAir Nulon Racing Camaro, as it marks two years since he officially joined our family. While the track hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for him and our team in the past, we are hoping it will be a case of third time lucky, with our recent form across both sides of the garage certainly giving us some confidence heading to this event.
Following Darwin, Golding now has five fourth place finishes in his Supercars championship career (four with us) and it is now time for that breakthrough podium.
At the same time, while a lot of the focus has been on Golding lately following the last event, Tim Slade in our #23 PremiAir Nulon Racing Camaro is also definitely one to watch – he has finished as high as fourth at Townsville before and as a two-time race winner and a veteran of this championship, he knows how to get it done.
As we look to see the team standing on the podium for the first time, a lot of work has gone on behind the scenes in preparation for this weekend, both around the Townsville event itself and its peculiarities, and also looking at how and why we went well in Darwin, so we can replicate that moving forward and make sure we are providing both of our drivers and cars with everything required for success.
We have also been pleased to welcome Andrew Gilliam to the team as data engineer, working across both cars – while Andrew only started with us a fortnight ago, he has jumped right in and is currently focusing on improving fuel flow for our pit stops, which will obviously be very important for us this weekend.
Also in Townsville, Zach Davis will once again be overseeing Cameron McLeod – who we recently were very pleased to announce as co-driver for Tim in the upcoming endurance season – and his race day team in the Super2 Series with the #92 RM Racing Cars supported by PremiAir Racing entry across two 40 minute races.
We are very excited to see Cam back on the track following the mega rollover he suffered in Perth. While he was unhurt, the car itself was very badly damaged, so badly in fact that we initially thought it was headed to the scrapheap.
However, with no major roof or chassis damage, we were instead able to undertake an extensive rebuild to ensure the #92 could race-on – something very important indeed, given that there are no ZB shells available at the moment, so ordering a new one would have meant months on the sideline. With Cam currently fifth in the Super2 standings, that was a fate we are glad we were able to avoid.
With a successful test day held last week at Queensland Raceway last week, the team and Cam are more than ready to shake off the Perth crash and get back into racing on the Townsville street circuit, so make sure you keep an eye on the PremiAir Nulon Racing entries in both the main-game and Super2 ranks this weekend.
Stephen Robertson
PremiAir Nulon Racing Team Manager
The Townsville 500 will be held across July 5-7. For event information and schedules, visit www.supercars.com.au
PremiAir Nulon Racing will carry live race coverage and team updates on its website across the weekend – stay up to date at www.premiairracing.com/track-updates/
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
