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Slade Decision Coming Soon

25 Jul 2013
Hot property Tim Slade has confirmed he will finalise his 2014 driving plans in about one month.
4 mins by James Pavey
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Hot property Tim Slade has confirmed he will finalise his 2014 driving plans in about one month.

Slade, who is out of contract with Erebus Motorsport V8 at the end of the 2013 season, has been the centre of much speculation about where he might land in 2014.

While Erebus has declared it wants him to stay, Slade has also been strongly linked to a seat at Walkinshaw Racing, most likely to replace Russell Ingall in the Supercheap Auto entry.

However, Walkinshaw Racing is in negotiations with Holden Racing Team driver James Courtney over a renewal of his contract and if that falls through a seat may open up at HRT.

Given the many and varied permutations of driver and team alignments being mooted as the 2013 silly season gathers pace Slade might also theoretically end up at Ford Performance Racing, Tekno Autosports, Garry Rogers’ new Volvo-backed factory team or even Triple Eight Race Engineering if Roland Dane elects to expand from two to four cars on the grid.

Slade is in demand because he is clearly talented, reasonably priced compared to the likes of Courtney and has no sure guarantee that Erebus will be able deliver him a Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG capable of winning races in 2014. 

And that last point is a key one.

“The number one thing for me is I just want to be in the best possible situation to be challenging for race wins and that’s basically it,” Slade told v8supercars.com.au.

“In probably the next month or so I should know what’s happening,” he added. “It’s not a decision I want to drag on. It’s obviously a pretty important decision as far as my career is concerned. It is definitely something that is consistently on my mind.”

If Slade’s decision is to depart Erebus then it could also mean the end of his professional relationship with motorsport patron James Rosenberg, whose Racing Entitlements Contract has underpinned his SBR and Erebus entries. Rosenberg also supported Slade in his earlier days in junior formulae.

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“We are not officially tied in any way but it would be really good to keep that relationship going,” Slade said.

While Slade has yet to claim a V8 Supercars race victory, the 27-year old’s three years at Stone Brothers racing in a factory Ford Falcon clearly demonstrated his talent, culminating in his fifth place in the championship in 2012.

Over the summer SBR was taken over by Betty Klimenko’s Erebus privateer Mercedes-Benz AMG operation and Slade found himself one of three drivers in a program that was effectively created from the ground up in a little over thee months.

He has outshone both Lee Holdsworth and rookie Maro Engel, exploiting recent engine upgrades and the swap from electric to hydraulic power steering assistance to qualify and race in the top 10 in Darwin and Townsville, including an eighth place in his Heavy Haulage Australia Benz in the 200km Race 21 that was full of merit. 

This weekend Slade, who runs 21st in the championship, contests the Coates Hire Ipswich 360 at Queensland Raceway, a track where he starred with two second places in 2011 and is SBR/Erebus’ test track. 

“We had a test there last week with all the other Queensland race teams and that was our first proper test day at Queensland Raceway for the year, so it was all about re-confirming things that we have done to the car set-up wise in the last few races and trying some different stuff,” Slade explained.

“It would be nice to continue the momentum of where we have been in the last couple of races,” he added. “I don’t want to talk it up but I’d like to think having tested there we would be aiming for the same if not better results than where we have been the last few races.”

The Coates Hire Ipswich 360 is a sprint round and qualifying and racing, including Saturday’s 60/60 Super Sprint, will be run exclusively on soft tyres.

“I enjoy the soft tyres and the car seems to have good pace on both hard and soft tyres,” Slade added. “As for the format, I personally enjoy the pit stop races a little more but we deal with what we are dealt and I think the most important thing is to deliver what the fans like.”

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