With a B-Final victory over Wayne Newby at this weekend’s Nitro Champs in Sydney, Peter Xiberras and PremiAir Racing have ensured they are in the box seat to challenge for their third straight national Top Fuel Championship.
The Burson Auto Parts Australian Top Fuel Championship will conclude in Darwin across June 16 and 17, with Xiberras having now elevated himself from third to equal second in the standings.
Xiberras now shares the second rung of the title ladder with Phil Read, 65 points adrift of leader Damian Harris.
PremiAir Racing’s weekend got off to a good start Friday evening, with a side-by-side qualifying pass with Harris seeing Xiberras lay down a 3.829 ET to be third fastest of the eight-car field. In cold conditions, the team was unable to better that effort in Q2, and ultimately settled for fourth on the sheets.
Race day got off to a winning start, with a round one win over title rival Read, with Xiberras’ 3.868 second pass at 510.36 kilometres per hour having the crowd cheering in what was the first Top Fuel pass of the day.
In round two, another side-by-side, full candles race unfolded against eventual event winner Dixon, who narrowly beat the PremiAir Racing dragster to the line by just .0087 of a second with his 3.814 second ET over Xiberras’ 3.833.
In the B-Final, Xiberras faced off against Wayne Newby, ending the weekend on a winning note with another 3.833 second run, this time at 514.7 kilometres per hour.
This result and the fact that Read was unable to show for his C-Final following a fiery yet winning episode in the second round would elevate PremiAir Racing to equal second in the title chase ahead of next month’s final.
“This has been quite the weekend in Sydney,” Xiberras said.
“We just missed out on winning that second round against Dixon, but congratulations to him and the Rapisardas on not only taking that win, but also on making the A-Final and winning the event.
“To come home and finish on a high is really good, and great for the team.
“The B- Final victory also means we move into equal second ahead of the final event of the season, which is exceptionally important.
“With nothing between Read and I, and 65 points to Harris, there is going to be a lot to play for in Darwin.
“While of course we would have loved to go to the A-Final, after the issues we have had of late, we are very happy with what we have been able to achieve this weekend and we can’t wait to head up North and hopefully finish our season off in the best way possible.”
Before PremiAir Racing heads to Darwin for the final round of the Burson Auto Parts Australian Top Fuel Championship (event information at www.topfuelchampionship.com.au), the team will be travelling across the Apple Isle for the next round of the Supercars Championship.
The team’s two Nulon Racing Supercars will be contesting the Tasmania SuperSprint at Symmons Plains across May 19-21. For event information, visit www.supercars.com.au
For more information on PremiAir Racing, please visit www.premiairracing.com or follow the team on its social media platforms at www.facebook.com/PremiAirRacing/, www.instagram.com/premiair_racing/, www.linkedin.com/company/premiairracing/ and www.twitter.com/premiairracing
