PREMIAIR Racing has enhanced its engineering roster ahead of the 2023 Supercars enduros, signing Simon Hodge.
Hodge becomes James Golding’s race engineer effective immediately, allowing director of engineering Geoff Slater to fully transition into an overarching position (while Romy Mayer works directly on Tim Slade’s Camaro).
Hodge, who will continue working for Triple Eight on a part-time basis, has tasted success on both sides of the pit wall.
As a driver, he won the 2014 Gold Star from when the prestigious award was associated with Formula 3; his subsequent engineering experience includes guiding Triple Eight Super2 frontrunner Cameron Hill last year.
Hodge is familiar to PremiAir, having filled in on Chris Pither’s car at the 2022 Pukekohe round.
“I worked quite closely with Romy who was the race engineer for the Triple Eight wildcard program last year and have also worked with some of the other Nulon Racing guys including Geoff Slater in the GT program, so it is great to be back with some familiar faces that I have really enjoyed working with in the past,” he said.
“Jimmy is really an emerging talent on the way up in Supercars and so is Dylan O’Keeffe, and I think they are going to be a really solid pairing for the enduros.
“I am excited to have the opportunity to work with both of those guys and hopefully, bring them some trophies.
“There is a lot to play for left in the year, and it is an exciting time to be joining the team.”
Slater welcomed the recruitment, with Hodge on deck yesterday at PremiAir’s Queensland Raceway test.
“With plenty of experience behind him and the right attitude, he has slotted into our line-up perfectly and we are looking forward to seeing what we can achieve together as we look to put together a strong finish to our 2023 season for Nulon Racing, starting with the enduros,” said Slater.
PremiAir has also had new team manager Stephen Robertson start since the Tailem Bend round.
