Gold Coast hometown comfort important for Slade
Tim Slade will be on four and two-wheels at next week's Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500.
Slade is one of 13 drivers on the 25-strong grid who lives in Queensland.
The hometown driver will be commuting to and from his own house to the circuit every day.
The 37-year-old, who announced his shift to PremiAir Racing on Friday, will take the bike track from his home to the track.
Slade lives at Mermaid Beach, which is approximately 10km from the track.
For the first time, driver will tackle dual 250km races on the Surfers streets, meaning fitness will be key.
“I only live sort of 10km away. so it’s nice to ride the bike in and out and sleep in my own bed,” Slade said.
A surprise podium with BJR and Andre Heimgartner in 2017
“From a driver's perspective, the track is awesome fun, always produces great racing.
“Something to look forward to that is a bit different to normal is single driver races so it’s going to be grueling.”
Slade is no stranger to success on the Gold Coast streets, given he is a two-time podium-finisher.
He first scored a surfboard trophy in 2014 in Walkinshaw colours, before scoring a second in 2017.
That result came with Andre Heimgartner, who will drive that exact Brad Jones Racing Commodore next weekend.
Slade had long been linked to PremiAir Racing, with his CoolDrive exit announced earlier this month.
The two-time race winner was pleased to reveal his 2023 plans, with Slade to race a PremiAir Camaro.
It’s doubly exciting for Slade, given PremiAir is headquartered down the road in Arundel.
“It’s been nice to finally announce my move to PremiAir Racing for 2023,” Slade said.
“Something I haven’t had for a long time is having a team that is here on the Gold Coast.
“It’ll be cool being only 20 minutes away from home.
“I think they’ve got some really good things happening, as they’ve shown in their first year.
"Gen3 is exciting not only for the team but for the sport in general.
“That’s all next year, the immediate focus is to finish this year of as best as possible with CoolDrive Racing and look forward to the next four races.”
Tickets for next week’s Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 are available through Supercars.com and Ticketek.
The event, which hasn’t run since 2019, will feature three days of Supercars and support categories on track.
There will be three nights of blockbuster entertainment headlined by Bliss N Eso (Friday), Carl Cox and Eric Powell (Saturday) and Sneaky Sound System (Sunday) supported by DJ Total Eclipse, Brooke Evers and Kota Banks.
