PremiAir Racing is readying to contest an epic Top Fuel championship showdown as part of the largest championship drag racing event held outside of North America this weekend (June 11-13).
The Gulf Western Oil Winternationals event, held at the team’s home-track of Willowbank Raceway, will host the final round of the 2019/2020/2021 400 Thunder Top Fuel Championship season.
PremiAir Racing is ideally placed to battle for the title, with team principal and driver Peter Xiberras currently second on the points ladder on 299 points – 25 points behind title leader Wayne Newby and 10 points ahead of Phil Lamattina.
While PremiAir Racing has tasted success at Willowbank before, with both Gold and Silver Christmas Tree trophies from previous events, it is yet to claim a Winternationals Gold.
“There is a lot to play for this weekend at Willowbank Raceway – the Winters win and the championship win are both on the line and it is anyone’s game,” Xiberras said.
“We have a Gold and Silver tree from Willowbank and also a Gold and Silver tree from Sydney, as well as current track records for Sydney and Perth, but the prestige of taking home a winning Winters trophy is something we are keenly focused on heading into this weekend.
“There’s no event like it and to top it off, the event is sponsored by our valued supporters Gulf Western Oil, so we will be pulling out all the stops to make sure we can secure the event and the title win this weekend.”
To prepare for the event, the team completed two test passes at the Winters Warm-Up on June 5.
“We put in some strong work at the official pre-Winters test weekend, playing around with some clutch settings to improve our short track times,” PremiAir Racing Team Manager, Tim Adams, explained.
“After recording a 60-foot time of .856 and 2.156 to the 330 in the second pass, we were pleased we had everything heading in the right direction and turned our attention to servicing the PremiAir Hire Top Fuel dragster ready for the main event.
“We will enjoy two qualifying passes at the event on the Friday ahead of a third on Saturday, before three epic ‘all in’ rounds of racing unfold across the Saturday and Sunday ahead of the ‘winner takes all’ final on Sunday afternoon.
“We can’t wait to get after it at this fantastic event and look forward to seeing all the fans in the pits in between the runs – make sure you stop by and say hi!”
The Gulf Western Oil Winternationals will be held at Willowbank Raceway across June 11-13. Top Fuel qualifying passes are scheduled for 1.26pm and 3.23pm on Friday and 1.12pm on Saturday, ahead of racing at 3.33pm Saturday and 11.00am, 2.16pm and 4.30pm (final) on Sunday. For full event information, visit www.willowbankraceway.com.au
For more information on PremiAir Hire Racing, please visit https://premiairhire.com.au/ or follow the team on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PremiAirRacing/