PremiAir boss impressed by 'faultless' Slade

Nulon Racing Team Principal Matt Cook has labelled recruit Tim Slade’s first race weekend with the team as “faultless”.

Slade joined PremiAir Racing from CoolDrive Racing in the off-season, with the former located near his Gold Coast home in Arundel.

In just one event, Slade, James Golding and the team has emerged as ones to watch after displaying strong one-lap and race pace.

Golding and Slade came home fourth and ninth in the Thrifty Newcastle 500 finale on Sunday.

To the Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint, Golding and Slade are ninth and 15th respectively.

Slade qualified a brilliant fourth for Race 1, which was his 400th career race, and ran in the top four in the opening stint.

Instead, a potential top five race result and resultant top five championship position went begging due to a wheel nut issue at his first stop.

He came home 24th, which became 22nd when both Red Bull Ampol Camaros were disqualified.

Cook admitted the wheel nut issue was a team problem, but couldn’t fault recruit Slade, who bounced back a day later and complemented Golding’s top four finish.

“Faultless,” Cook told the Schick Cool Down Lap podcast of Slade’s performance.

“It was all our mistake yesterday [with the wheel nut]. We debriefed, and we had to give our drivers a pat on the back.

“They did their bit in qualifying, but we didn’t quite hit the mark in the race."

Golding demonstrated top 10 pace late in 2022, having joined the team midway through the season.

The goal for the team in Newcastle was to translate that form across both cars and bring home both cars in the top 10 — a goal the team achieved immediately.

“We didn’t have the best of luck yesterday. We had to turn it around and perform today,” Cook said.

“We had both cars in the Shootout both days, which was amazing.

“We just kept our head down and had a really good solid race, and the results showed.

“We’re really happy with fourth and ninth."

While Saturday’s race proved a letdown, Slade identified the positives and brought it into Sunday, and was duly rewarded.

"It is true that it was a difficult day yesterday," Slade said of the Race 1 heartbreak.

"But there were still lots of positives to take out of that with plenty of good car speed, and we brought that into today.

"It was definitely a case of a bit smoother sailing for us today, and it was an awesome result for the team with two cars in the top 10 for qualifying and then the race.

"I must say congratulations and awesome job to the #31 guys for P3 in qualifying and the shootout, and P4 in the race.

"We struggled a little in the #400 [with early pace] in the race, but that is all part of the learning process.

"There are definitely lots of things to take out of the weekend and build on for the next one at the Grand Prix, which we are all very much looking forward to."

The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint on March 30-April 2.