Saturday Race Report Darwin

Saturday of the Darwin Triple Crown has seen PremiAir Nulon Racing back up its provisional pole of Friday with ‘actual’ pole from the Top Ten Shootout – the first pole position for the team and for driver Jimmy Golding, and also the first to be claimed by any full-time female Supercars race engineer (Romy Mayer). 

The pole-setting lap also saw Golding set a new track lap record in the #31 PremiAir Nulon Racing Camaro. 

Come the race this afternoon, Golding led the first few laps while locked in an intense battle with Broc Feeney, before being forced to yield following a bump from the #88 driver, dropping the #31 to third position. 

Golding held P3 until his pit stop on lap 23, where despite a great stop from the team where he took on two tyres, a vital spot was lost due to the #31 having to wait for traffic in the lane when attempting to rejoin. 

Even so, Golding put in a commendable performance over the remaining 25 laps to bring his Camaro home in P4, despite challenges from a late-charging Chaz Mostert on fresher tyres. 

On the other side of the garage, Tim Slade also had a strong day in the #23 PremiAir Nulon Racing Camaro, starting the race P9 following the Top Ten Shootout and holding steady during a busy first half of the race. 

Slade pitted early from P9 on lap 20 for two tyres, going on to run as high as P8 up until the final 11 laps. At that point, the #23 didn’t quite have the tyres of some of its competitors who had elected to stop later and put on three or four tyres, but Slade still put in a solid drive to finish P12. 

PremiAir Nulon Racing will return to the track at Hidden Valley Raceway tomorrow (Sunday 16 June) for qualifying (10.25am), a Top Ten Shootout (11.35am) and the second race of the weekend, kicking off at 3.10pm (all times local). For event information, visit www.supercars.com.au

QUOTEBOARD – DARWIN TRIPLE CROWN – SATURDAY 15 JUNE, 2024

Jimmy Golding – #31 PremiAir Nulon Racing Camaro

“It was a bloody awesome start to the day today – getting pole position in the shootout was just awesome and fantastic for the whole team. Everyone has put a lot of work in over the last couple of years, so to get up there was just awesome. We got off to a pretty good start in the race and managed to lead the first couple of laps, and then had a good battle with Broc, but got pushed wide and dropped a couple of spots. We didn’t quite hold onto it in P3 there, we had to wait for a car that was coming down pit lane when we were pulling out – but that happens, it is all part of racing, so we have just got to try again and do better tomorrow.” 

Romy Mayer – Race Engineer for the #31 PremiAir Nulon Racing Camaro

“Obviously the morning started very well for us with the actual pole position after yesterday’s provisional pole. And then in the race we got a great start with Jimmy and then there was contact with Broc which puts us in P3 unfortunately. I think we were still on a pretty good strategy by stopping a little earlier trying to undercut some other people, but then we had to wait in the lane for traffic, so we lost a spot there unfortunately. P4 is always a bit of a sad spot but actually if we are sad with p4 that means we are in a good spot at the moment. We know we have a strong qualifying car, and we will tune up the race car for tomorrow and take it step by step.”

Tim Slade – #23 PremiAir Nulon Racing Camaro

“Firstly, congrats to Jimmy and the entire team on the pole position, it obviously would have been nice if they could have got a trophy in the race but there is a massive amount of work that has gone into it all, so it is nice to see the team paid back with some results. On our side, it is good to be in the ten again but ultimately we just lacked a little bit of speed. I thought we were trucking along all right in the race but then it just didn’t really hang onto its tyres (at the end), and a few came through and passed us that had put on three or four (tyres) in the stop – so, we have a bit of homework to do tonight, and we will go again tomorrow.” 

Ludo Lacroix – PremiAir Nulon Racing Competition Director and Race Engineer for the #23 PremiAir Nulon Racing Camaro 

“(With the #23) we haven’t looked as racey as car #31 and Jimmy all weekend so far, I think we are around the P7-P10, and we probably pitted a bit early, a bit aggressive – some people pitted later and had more tyres and passed us (late in the race). Our pit stop strategy is still a work in progress and we need to still adjust the car for Tim also to give it more turn for the race tomorrow because he doesn’t have enough turn, so we need to tweak it again to add more turn.”

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