TOWNSVILLE DELIVERS ANOTHER TOUGH DAY

Saturday at the 2024 Townsville 500 has delivered another character-building day for PremiAir Nulon Racing, although signs of improvement point to what hopefully could be a better day tomorrow.  

Both Jimmy Golding in the #31 PremiAir Nulon Racing Camaro and Tim Slade in the #23 PremiAir Nulon Racing entry had great starts to the 88-lap race which began under threatening skies, advancing from P12 and P24 on the grid respectively to be P7 and P18 in the opening two laps. 

Golding was amongst the first to take their first CPS, pitting from P9 on the road, while Slade stayed out later and was brought in on lap 31 by the pit board due to a communication issue for the #23. 

After the field had completed their first round of stops, Golding was holding P8 while Slade was P17, however a steering rack failure for Slade at the mid-point of the race (lap 45) saw him forced to the garage. The team remarkably changed the rack in just 18 minutes, allowing the #23 back out onto the track to take the checkered flag and some valuable championship points, albeit from last place. 

Golding meanwhile continued on but was battling with fading tyres towards the end of his stints, pitting for the second time from P9 with 32 laps to go and holding on to P10 once the second round of stops were completed for the field, before eventually falling down the order to P16 across the final stages of the race, which included heavy rain on parts of the track. 

In the Super2 ranks, Cameron McLeod had a good start to his day, qualifying fourth for today’s race and holding that into the first corner. However, soon after Cooper Murray and Brad Vaughan would collide ahead of him and while McLeod was slowing to avoid them, he was bumped from the rear into the fence by another competitor. The subsequent damage ended his day, but the #92 RM Racing Cars supported by PremiAir Racing ZB Commodore will return to the track for Sunday’s action. 

The Townsville 500 Supercars action continues tomorrow (Sunday July 7) 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). For event information, visit www.supercars.com 

QUOTEBOARD: TOWNSVILLE 500 – SATURDAY 6 JULY, 2024

Jimmy Golding – #31 PremiAir Nulon Racing Camaro

“It was not too bad of a turnaround from yesterday for us, we had struggled in practice and then turned around in qualifying and got to P12 there. I was looking forward to the race and got an awesome start. We tried a few things with the car but it didn’t quite look after its tyres towards the end of the stints there and so we lost a lot of ground and dropped back to P16. It is not where we wanted to finish but I am glad we were able to finish and there is a lot of data to go through tonight. There was a lot of positives out of what we tried with the car, so we will turn it around and go again tomorrow.” 

Tim Slade – #23 PremiAir Nulon Racing Camaro

“Today was terrible for us – we qualified last and then we had a steering failure in the race. Kudos to the crew though on replacing the steering rack in just 18 minutes, that was a mammoth effort from them and allowed us to get back out there to finish the race, get a few points and make sure the car was okay for tomorrow.” 

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

“It was a bit of a difficult day. We were looking not too bad with Tim and then the steering rack broke, which is not the first time that has happened in the category. It is a bit painful and is not really something depending on us, it is a part that is given to us. That took a lot of time, the boys reacted really well and changed the rack, and we went out and finished the race and got some points. Obviously we were dead last, but it was still important to showcase that we put the car over the finish line. Jimmy had a good start to the race and then it seems like he faded away in the second stint and the third stint, so we need to have a good double check that everything is okay with the car. The first stint was very strong, and he finished that stint around P8 and we were happy with that. He had a very good start and a very good couple of first laps, but then he faded away and couldn’t defend his position towards the end.” 

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

“It was a pretty unfortunate race one for me. We were pretty good there in qualifying to start on the second row, but then we got hit up the rear end which is pretty unfortunate. You can’t do much about it though and we have a fast car which is good, that is the main part. We just need to push on and nail that qualifying tomorrow and get on the front row.” 

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