We are back in the Top End for the first of two race weekends at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway.

“We are here a bit later in the year than we traditionally have been, so the warmer and more humid weather will make the track conditions quite challenging.  

The Darwin Triple Crown involves a combination of the hard and soft tyres, which will challenge the teams in term of getting both tyres working. I do like that we will be qualifying on the same hard tyre, no mixed tyres so it will give the fans (and us) an accurate idea of where everyone is at, not guessing with tyre usage.

The tyre situation for Darwin is the same as the previous round in Sydney. The allocation of soft tyres doesn’t allow for each car to use a set in each of the three races so again, we’re likely to see some drivers aim for three solid results or have two average ones and go for glory in one of the races.

The quality of the racing so far has been mega. Let us hope we have another weekend of good race craft from everyone and avoid mistakes that may lead to accidents. We are now looking at four events in four weekends, so any damage will be costly.

It is an exciting round for me and the team. For me personally it’s my 100^th Supercars round, and Brad and the team have secured R&J Batteries as the major sponsor for Car 8 for the remainder of the season. 

As I mentioned, it’s looking like a busy time ahead for Supercars, with a double header in Darwin followed by another double header in Townsville. Nelson (my choc labrador) is up in Darwin with me, and he’s absolutely loving it. We spend so long at each event nowadays that it’s really cool having him on the road with me.

Since arriving in Darwin I’ve been trying to maintain a consistent training regime. I’ve been running and doing lots of bike riding with Macauley and some other guys from the team.

This is the first time that the Darwin Triple Crown will be awarded to the round winner, so everyone will be fighting hard to hold that trophy on Sunday afternoon. I’d love nothing more than to reward all the guys and girls on the team with another race win!”

Remember, you can follow Nick on social media for updates across the event.

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