V8 Supercars – Tim Slade heads to Darwin confident after recent podium

Lucky 7 Racing’s Tim Slade is heading to Darwin full of confidence having grabbed his first V8 Supercars podium of the year at Phillip Island recently.

Slade has had his best start to a V8 season so far, recording seven top 10 results from 11 races and third place in his last outing at Phillip Island.

Heading to Darwin on the Ghan, Slade has enjoyed some strong performances at Hidden Valley Raceway, including fourth in the Sunday race last year and he started on the second row of the grid in 2010.

With an improving Lucky 7 Ford and feeling more confident in himself, Slade is hoping to podium again and has his sights set on a race win.

Slade is sure to stand out on the track given his all-new NASCAR inspired Lucky 7 ‘Buy 2 Fly’ livery, which will debut in Darwin.

Slade is currently seventh in the championship less than100 points from fourth place.

The SKYCITY Triple Crown at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway kicks off with practice on Friday, June 15, followed by a 120 kilometre race on Saturday, June 16, and a longer 200 kilometre race on Sunday, June 17.

What Lucky 7 Racing’s Tim Slade had to say:

“I’m looking forward to getting back in the Lucky 7 Ford after a busy few weeks. Since Phillip Island I raced a Polaris side-by-side car in the Australian Rally Championship. I actually had a win on the Sunday which was quite exciting, it exceeded my expectations and it was a lot of fun. Then we had a test day and now Lee (Holdsworth) and myself are heading up to Darwin on the Ghan, on the train, which will be interesting. After the podium at Phillip Island, and our form recently and so far this year, we are quite confident going to Darwin. We just missed the podium last year, we qualified third the year before and we’ve had some other solid results, so we have high expectations. We are also debuting a new livery for Lucky Seven’s ‘Buy to Fly’ in-store promotion. It looks pretty cool; it’s great to see a different type of livery out there in the V8 Supercars field. I’m sure it will stand out on the track.”

What Lucky 7 Racing’s engineer Wes McDougall had to say:

“It was great to get our first podium for the year (at Phillip Island), we are hoping that it has kick started this middle part if the championship, so we are ready and raring to go in Darwin. I guess we’ve been really quick in the past in qualifying, we’ve been in the shootout and had great race speed, but we’ve never actually got a podium up there. Our best was fourth there last year so definitely our goal is to get on that podium.”

2012 V8 Supercars Championship after 11 of 29 races

1. Will Davison 1216 points2. Jamie Whincup 12063. Mark Winterbottom 11874. Craig Lowndes 9775. Shane van Gisbergen 9536. Lee Holdsworth 9327. Tim Slade 8798. Garth Tander 8169. Fabian Coulthard 76610. Rick Kelly 673

V8 Supercars – Tim Slade Heads To Darwin Confident After Recent Podium (Beyond the Red Line)Beyond the Red Line – Latest motorsports news and event photography. WRC, F1, Moto GP, V8 Supercars