Nulon Racing insights forming after Albert Park

Supercars’ newest team was subject to a weekend of learning in Melbourne, with Nulon Racing again edging closer to the front.

James Golding and Tim Slade both demonstrated impressive pace, but were undone by separate issues.

Slade spent the first half of the weekend on the back foot after crashing heavily in Practice 1.

The crash ruled Slade out of qualifying for Races 3 and 4, and he started from the rear. The car was fixed in time for Race 3, and he finished 20th.

Come Friday, and Slade dodged the chaos to race from 24th to 13th, before coming home eighth from 14th.

After qualifying 16th and 19th for the first two races, Golding qualified seventh for Race 5, but clashed with Mark Winterbottom on lap 1.

He cycled around and looked on for a top 10 finish before being turned around in a melee with Andre Heimgartner and Chaz Mostert.

Results of 22nd, 21st, 19th and 16th saw Golding drop to 13th in the points, with Slade 16th.

Speaking on the Schick Cool Down Lap podcast, Team Principal Matt Cook identified track position as key to being in the fight.

It came after Newcastle, where both cars were a factor up front after qualifying in the top five.

“It was a tough weekend overall,” Cook said.

“The one thing we had was car pace, but with Tim, we didn’t made any qualifying sessions, so we started at the back.

“Every race he was in, he passed nearly 10 cars. The speed was there, but we couldn’t show it because we started so far down the back.

“Jimmy missed out on a quick new tyre run on the Super Soft tyre, that caught us out in qualifying as well.

“If we had have started further up the front — it’s everyone’s story — we had the car pace, but didn't maximise.”

Critically, Nulon Racing faced a big test trying to turn Slade’s car around for Race 3, which they did with seconds to spare.

What would have been a routine repair on a Gen2 car proved a tricky process on the new Gen3 car, given teams are still getting their heads around repairability.

Cook said his team was learning on the run, but the Slade repair proved beneficial for possible future repairs.

“That’s probably the hardest any of these new generation cars have hit the fence,” Cook said.

“There was a lot broken, and some things we thought we stronger, they weren’t.

“We nearly have to train the drivers to drive them a little bit differently.

“They don’t really like a lot of heavy impact. What we learned what was strong on the older frame and chassis isn’t so true on this one.”

The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint on April 28-30.