Hazelwood takes Trans Am title

Todd Hazelwood has added another chapter to his stellar 2024 by winning the Trans Am title after a street fight with James Moffat in Adelaide.

Although Moffat dominated the final race and won by 2s, which saw him take the round by three points, victory was not enough as Hazelwood raced his way to second and the title.

It was more than enough with Moffat, who was 29 points adrift ahead of the final race, had to win and hope the TFH Racing driver would finish sixth or lower.

Winning the Trans Am title is a special achievement for Hazelwood as both driver and team were complete new comers to the category.

To put the cherry on top of the special success, Hazelwood won the first two races of the weekend and wrapped it up at his home race.

He has joined the likes of Aaron Seton, Nathan Herne and Moffat in the list of Trans Am champions. 

It completes a dream month for Hazelwood with the Trans Am title being added to the Peter Brock Trophy he won with Brodie Kostecki.

Whilst Hazelwood secured it comfortably in the end, being 10s ahead of third placed Ben Grice, there was a nervous moment when lights went out.

Assisted by a push from Herne, Moffat got the perfect and hit the lead off the rolling start.

Meanwhile, Hazelwood did not try to go side by side with Herne into the chicane and it was the latter who won the battle, demoting the championship leader to third.

Hazelwood suffered a further scare at the next corner at the end of Wakefield street where Grice launched a dive-bomb.

With staying alive the key, Hazelwood let Grice through and settled into fourth.

Racing only lasted a lap before the Safety Car arrived due to Mark Crutcher’s crash at Turn 8.

Crutcher understeered into the wall, but it could have been worse as Bailey was next on the scene and somehow avoided him.

Racing resumed with 11 minutes left and Herne was pushing hard in pursuit of Moffat.

He whacked the tyres coming out of Turn 5, but only lost a mirror and carried on, only to get a big tap from Grice at the final corner.

This helped the GRM driver pull a second and a half on the first lap of green flag racing.

Herne’s hopes of victory ended on Lap 5 when he had an even bigger moment at Turn 5.

The #29 Mustang went in too hard, climbed the kerb and careered into the outside tyres.

Hazelwood sensed his opportunity to get out of trouble and he went on the attack against Grice.

He completed the move down the Brock Straight, but had to cover in the run down to Turn 9 to get it down.

Within a handful of laps, Hazelwood was able to pull 5s on Grice to ensure he was out of danger.

Behind them Elliott Barbour was fourth, but suffered a 5s time penalty.

Tom Hayman was throwing his #30 Mustang everywhere, sending it down the inside of Thornburrow to snare seventh at Turn 9.

He also had spectacular skates through Turns 7 and 8 as he pushed the yellow Mustang to the ragged edge in pursuit of fifth placed Jackson Rice.

A second attempt at Turn 4 proved to be enough for Hayman to pass Rice for fifth on the road and fourth in the results.

Ramsay had a big surf through the Senna Chicane gravel, but carried on.

Despite being safe in second, Hazelwood was not backing down and set the fastest lap of the race to slash a second out of Moffat’s lead on Lap 10.

However, the GRM driver had enough pace to secure a comfortable 3s win.

The race stayed green to the end despite Brett Holdsworth spinning out at the final corner.

Trans Am Adelaide Race 3 results

Image: Peter Norton

VAILO Adelaide 500 Supercars schedule 

Practice 1: 1: J. Courtney 1:19.6835 2: D. Reynolds +0.1553 3: N. Percat +0.3242

Practice 2: 1 D. Reynolds 1:19.4804 2: C. Waters +0.0840 3: C. Mostert +0.1023

Qualifying – 1 W. Brown 1:19.4425 2: C. Waters +0.3631 3: T. Randle +0.4123

Practice 3 – 1 W. Brown 1:19.7649 2 B. Feeney +0.1894 3 T. Randle +0.2517

Top 10 Shootout – 1 C. Waters 1:19.9628 2: T. Randle +0.1182 3: B. Feeney +0.1847

Race 23 1: B. Feeney 2: W. Brown +12.8028 3: C. Waters +13.7810

Qualifying – Sun 10.20-10.35

Top 10 Shootout – Sun 12.35-13.35

Race 24 (78 laps) – Sun 15.15

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