Hayman dreaming of racing both home and overseas

One of the brightest emerging Trans Am talents is teenager Tom Hayman, who is dreaming of the possibility of not only racing on home turf at Newcastle, but also overseas.

At just 18 Hayman has cemented himself as one of the category’s top stars in his first full season of Trans Am racing.

The Newcastle boy shot into championship contention by smashing the field at Queensland Raceway, winning all three races in the weekend of his life. Not a bad effort from a youngster driving a family run car out of a team just made up of his father, uncle and sponsor.

Despite a strong second in race one, Sandown did not go Hayman’s way. He was spun at the start of race two before being caught up in a separate tangle at turn 12 with Edan Thornburrow brought the weekend to an early finish, but still sits fourth in the standings.

“It has not gone our way this weekend,” Hayman told AUTO ACTION.

“We had a podium in the first race which was great, obviously the pace from Queensland translated to Sandown.

“But it was very frustrating to get caught up in incidents and a shame we could not show it up front.”

It was a step back down to Earth for Hayman after the high of Queensland Raceway which he rates as the biggest moment in his career.

“It took a week or two for it to sink in that we had won all three races,” he reflected.

Tom Hayman celebrates victory at Queensland Raceway.

“To be able to do the three peat was pretty awesome on our part and definitely the biggest moment of my career.

“It was an absolute dream come true.”

Hayman arrived at Trans Am from Aussie Racing Cars where he showed his winning pedigree in a short space of time.

At just 16 he took on Aussie Racing Cars and managed to get a podium in his first season in 2021.

This put him in good stead for 2022 when he stepped up a gear winning more than half of his races with eight wins from 15 starts.

It ended up being a big year for Hayman as he also jumped into a Trans Am for the first time and scored his maiden podium in just his fifth race.

Josh Anderson leads Tom Hayman across the top of the mountain in Aussie Racing Cars.

This season he has gone all in on Trans Am and is loving the challenge of hustling the #30 Mustang.

Hayman said the transition of switching from one of the smallest vehicles in Aussie Racing Cars to one of biggest in Trans Am has not been too challenging.

“It took about two test days before I started to get my head around it (the Trans Am) but there is nothing better than having a big V8,” he said.

“They are a big handful because you are always fighting it and the car is never perfect because you are moving around a lot.

“But it is a great car to drive, so it was definitely a good decision to go racing in Trans Am.”

Reflecting on when he turned a corner, Hayman signalled Phillip Island as the major moment he could fight against the big boys of Trans Am.

At that round he was a consistent force finishing in the top 10 in all three races.

Tom Hayman in charge of the Trans Am field at Ipswich.

He then had a tougher time in Winton, but put an impressive fightback in the final race to salvage fourth, which provided the platform for Ipswich.

Hayman feels racing against the likes of James Moffat, Lochie Dalton and Owen Kelly has helped him raise all areas of his skillset.

“We have been working so hard all year to buy ourselves in the championship fight,” he said.

“Since Phillip Island we have definitely come on leaps and bounds, making the car faster in different situations.

“You are always improving because there is a lot to learn, especially when you are racing against guys like Moffat who have tons of experience.

“Just following him out on track you learn a lot, so always trying to grow as a driver.”

Going forward Hayman admitted he is craving the chance to race on his home streets of Newcastle if the Supercars season opener does renew its contract.

However, he also revealed he is hoping to have a crack offshore in the near future.

“We will most likely stay in Trans Am, that will be our main series next year,” Hayman said.

“Obviously if Newcastle gets signed again it is on the cards. We are going to try and get on the grid somewhere there.

“Hopefully we can also do something overseas if we can. There is obviously a lot of money in it but if we can get enough to try different experiences we will take anything on.”

Hayman will look to resume his Trans Am rise at Sydney Motorsport Park on November 3-4. 

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