Hazelwood hungry for more Bathurst success

Todd Hazelwood heads to Mount Panorama for the first time since his Great Race glory, but on this occasion he is chasing a Trans Am title.

Three months on since the trip to Queensland Raceway, the fight for the 2024 Trans Am title hots up at two of the most iconic tracks in the country – Bathurst and Adelaide.

The back to back rounds mark an intense and busy run to the finish line with Hazelwood currently leading the way.

Despite both driver and team being category rookies, the TFH Hire Racing driver leads reigning champion James Moffat by 32 points, while the likes of Jordan Boys and James Golding are still in the mix.

Despite being the leader, Hazelwood, who is enjoying returning to the scene of his undisputed career highlight alongside Brodie Kostecki, believes he is the “underdog” of the Trans Am title fight as he squares up against teams that have much greater Trans Am experience.

“It is great to be back at Bathurst and the first time as a Bathurst 1000 champion, which I feel really fortunate to say that out loud,” Hazelwood told AUTO ACTION.

“Coming back here with that title as Bathurst champion is something that I will not get sick of for the rest of my life. I will embrace it.

“I am excited to see what we can achieve in a Trans Am.

“It is a big job ahead. I am certainly not taking for granted the challenge because there are some really fast guys and two rounds to go.

“We are somewhat of an underdog for our team in particular based on James Golding and James Moffat being at the team that has dominated the last few seasons.

“They have the knowledge over us but we have just been working hard and doing out own thing.

“We will give it a big crack and see what we can achieve.”

After finding his feet and steadily improving across the early rounds at Sandown, Tasmania and Phillip Island, Hazelwood’s big Trans Am breakthrough arrived at The Bend when he took his first two wins.

Since then he took off, winning the final three races straight at Ipswich to storm into the championship lead ahead of the doubleheader.

Hazelwood said he and the team entered Trans Am with an open mind and have embraced each new challenge that has come their way.

“I have really enjoyed the challenge of being at a new team in a new category,” he said.

“We essentially started fresh and had a lot to learn so the label ourselves as title contenders at the sharp end of the series is something we are really proud of.

“We certainly set ourselves a goal to do the best job we could and it was hard to know what that would look like at the start of the year because it all happened at the last minute but I don’t think we are too surprised.

“Although it has been a long break since the last round at Queensland Raceway, we have been working very hard behind the scenes.

“It will be a big commitment going from Bathurst this weekend straight to Adelaide next weekend and hopefully we put our best foot forward.”

In terms of his approach to chasing the title, Hazelwood is hoping to avoid the deadly concrete walls of Mount Panorama and Adelaide.

“It is always a battle of both because the fastest guy still wins the championship at the end of the day,” he said.

“When you are trying to put a championship together in a select few rounds you do need to be strategic and pick your battles being aware of the bigger picture.

“This year I have focused on minimising the mistakes and the opportunity for a DNF.

“That is the big thing at two tracks where it is incredibly punishing if you get it wrong.

“We just need to minimise the mistakes and I am sure the team will create a fast car and be at the pointy end.

“It is a fast, flowing circuit that other teams have been to a lot before whereas TFH and I have not.

“So we have a lot of work to do if we want to finish the year well.

“If we can get that Trans Am title in our first year it would be a job well done.”

In addition to the overall championship, there is also a special Mountain to The City title on the line across the high-profile doubleheader.

Bathurst will be a shorter weekend than normal for Trans Am in terms of quantity, but there will still be significant track time with two 40-minute races on the Saturday.

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