PremiAir Racing is looking forward to a more normal Supercars format this weekend in Perth after dramas at Albert Park were exacerbated by the rapid-fire nature of the event.
Between James Golding and Tim Slade, the Nulon-backed outfit managed only one top 10 finish in the four races which made up the Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint.
It was a far cry from the season-opening event, when both qualified in the top 10 for both races, and finished likewise in the latter encounter in Newcastle.
Not helping matters down at Albert Park was a practice crash for Slade which sidelined him from qualifying for both Races 3 and 4 of the season (the opening two races of the event), and very nearly from Race 3 also.
However, he gained a net total of 31 positions in four relatively short sprints, one as brief as eight laps (including Safety Cars), claiming a finish of eighth in Race 5.
Golding was on for a top 10 finish in that race also, until he was turned around in a three-wide squeeze with Andre Heimgartner and Chaz Mostert.
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This weekend at the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint, a trio of 42-lap, 100km races is on the cards, on a single tyre compound, and hence less chaos than unfolded at the Australian Grand Prix weekend can reasonably be expected at Wanneroo.
“Newcastle, we had great speed, both cars, all sessions – practice, quali sessions, races, everything – we did really well,” Team Principal Matty Cook told Speedcafe.
“Obviously, [at Albert Park] Tim’s car was heavily damaged in P1 and that took him out of all the quali sessions for that day and the car only just made it out for the race.
“Starting from the back never helps and obviously with the compressed racing laps [due to Safety Cars and strict time-certainty] and things like that, it was never going to be great.
“But Tim, on average, I think he passed about 10 cars every race so the speed was there; we just couldn’t show it because we didn’t get to qualify.
“Jimmy, he qualified quite well, he was up there, I think he was in position five or six when he was in a three-car sandwich and got turned around.
“So, he was there but then that puts you down the back and, in a 13-lap race, you’re still struggling to get back.
“The team’s good, we’re still upbeat, we’re still excited, everyone’s still happy. We just need to get back to this normal race format and longer races where we can prove that we’ve got car speed in quali and in the race.
“It’s just hard to prove when you’ve got a 13-lap race, you have to do a pit stop, and everybody on the field’s on a similar strategy; it just makes it hard.
“Where you start’s basically where you finish – and you’ve just got to not get turned around either,” he quipped in conclusion.
Golding is now 13th in the drivers’ championship and Slade 16th after two events, with PremiAir eighth in the teams’ standings in this, its second season in Supercars.
Wanneroo will largely see the standard SuperSprint format, with knockout qualifying and a race on the Saturday, then back-to-back qualifying sessions and two races on the Sunday.
Friday’s action, however, features a single, 90-minute qualifying session, kicking off at 14:25 local time/16:25 AWST.
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