Lacroix takes over as lead Slade engineer

Ludo Lacroix will take over as Tim Slade’s lead engineer at PremiAir Nulon Racing from the upcoming Perth round, with Mirko De Rosa stepping back from the role.

De Rosa was Race Engineer of the #23 Chevrolet Camaro at the first three rounds of the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship.

Before the new season, De Rosa reunited with Slade, who he previously engineered at the Blanchard Racing Team. De Rosa joined BRT in 2021 from Erebus Motorsport, with his Erebus tenure highlighted by a Darwin victory for Anton De Pasquale in 2020.

Lacroix joined PremiAir Nulon Racing as Competition Director in the off-season, after departing the Shell V-Power Racing Team.

In a statement supplied to Supercars.com, PremiAir Nulon Racing confirmed Lacroix will take over as Slade’s Race Engineer at the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint, while continuing his role as Competition Director.

Slade, who will mark his 200th round in Perth, leads teammate James Golding in both qualifying and race head-to-heads, and qualified for both Top Ten Shootouts at the recent ITM Taupō Super400.

However, a costly Saturday DNF in New Zealand has consigned Slade to 21st in the standings, while Golding is 10th after charging through the field in both races.

Lacroix follows the likes of Phillip Di Fazio, Blake Smith, Rhys Lenegan and Romy Mayer as engineers on Slade’s car since the veteran driver joined the team in 2023.

Slade is no stranger to Lacroix, with the pair working together at the Shell Ford squad when Slade was co-driver to Scott McLaughlin at the 2020 Bathurst 1000.

PremiAir Nulon Racing also confirmed Data Engineer Julia McGarry, formerly of Team 18, has also departed the team.

The team statement reads: "While very thankful for his service to date, having Mirko De Rosa located in Melbourne while working as the lead engineer for the #23 PremiAir Nulon Racing Camaro has not worked out as the team and Mirko had hoped, and so the decision has been made that Mirko will step back from the role, with Ludo Lacroix taking up the role of lead engineer for Tim Slade moving forward while continuing his over-arching role as Competition Director for PremiAir Nulon Racing.

"The team thanks Julia McGarry for her service but the decision has been made that a more senior Data Engineer is required in this position and details of the new appointment will be made in the coming weeks."

Mayer, who joined the team midway through 2023 from Triple Eight Race Engineering, is currently Golding’s Race Engineer.

PremiAir Nulon Racing is currently 10th in the teams’ standings heading to the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint on May 17-19.