Townsville Friday Debrief

PremiAir Nulon Racing Competition Director Ludo Lacroix has summed up the team’s opening day experience at the Townsville 500 in one word: brutal. 

Both the #23 PremiAir Nulon Racing Camaro of Tim Slade and the #31 PremiAir Nulon Racing Camaro of Jimmy Golding spent a lot of time in the garages with as the team, led by Lacroix and #31 race engineer Romy Mayer worked hard on an array of changes across the two 40-minute practice sessions.

When those sessions were completed, Golding had recorded the 22nd and 20th quickest times while Slade set 23rd and 22nd on the time sheets.

While the day has certainly not panned out the way the team anticipated, what they do have is reams of valuable data and plenty of lessons learned which will hopefully assist the team to mount a turnaround overnight ahead of Saturday’s qualifying and racing. 

In the Super2 Series, Cameron McLeod enjoyed a strong start to his weekend, setting the 12th and 11th quickest times in practice one and two respectively. 

It was a promising start to his comeback from the huge roll-over he endured in Perth which saw the #92 RM Racing Cars supported by PremiAir Racing ZB Commodore undergo an extensive rebuild ahead of this weekend. 

The Townsville 500 Supercars action continues tomorrow (Saturday 6 July) with qualifying (10.15am), the Top Ten Shootout (12.05pm) and the first of two races for the weekend (2.40pm). Sunday July 7 will then replicate Saturday’s program with another 88-lap race (2.40pm) preceded by qualifying (10.05pm) and a shootout (12.05pm). Super2 meanwhile will take to the track for qualifying (9.40am) and a 40-minute race (1.15pm) on both Saturday and Sunday. For event information, visit www.supercars.com 

QUOTEBOARD: TOWNSVILLE 500 – FRIDAY 5 JULY, 2024

Jimmy Golding – #31 PremiAir Nulon Racing Camaro

“It was a bit dismal today unfortunately but we tried a lot of things that didn’t work so we have crossed some things off and we will go through all the data tonight, I think we have worked out a bit of a direction to find out what the problem is so we will go back to the drawing board and probably fire a few things at the car tonight to try and turn things around tomorrow – we are obviously a very long way away so we have to have a crack at making a difference; small changes are going to get us close at this point.”

Tim Slade – #23 PremiAir Nulon Racing Camaro

“I think we still got through what we wanted to but didn’t really find much direction with I guess the planned changes that we had. But looking at it all now post practice two, I think we may have a bit of an idea as to what is going on and where we are lacking or why we are lacking, so hopefully we are on the right path and we can be more competitive come tomorrow.” 

Ludo Lacroix – PremiAir Nulon Racing Competition Director and #23 race engineer

“It has been a brutal day today, quite brutal. We went south in the first session and were really not where we needed to be, and we didn’t pick up the right heading to get where we wanted to be so we went even more south in the second session, so when we fitted green tyres we didn’t go quicker than on our tyres that had done 15 laps. It does say we are doing something wrong with our qualifying set-up. We have to do something for tomorrow, as there is something we are not doing right. Our friends at Triple Eight aren’t doing exceptional either so it is not like we can anchor ourselves behind them, so it is probably a case that we have to go on our own a little bit and try and find a way into the top ten – that would be a miracle.” 

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

“Friday’s practice went pretty well. Given the big rebuild, we focused on checking the majority of the setup and making sure everything is running okay. We are tweaking a few minor things in the car, but we’ll really know where we stand in qualifying tomorrow. The boys did a great job. Getting here this weekend wouldn’t have been possible without the long hours and dedication from a lot of people. I want to send a shout out to Dad, Ryan, Simon, and Steve — our veteran mechanics who put in countless hours to make last Thursday’s test day and today’s performance in Townsville happen.

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