REPCO Supercars Championship rookie Cameron Hill has opened up on the influence fellow Canberran Dale Brede had on his career.
Brede, who passed away last week aged 48, was the last Canberran main game driver prior to Hill.
Brede appeared in 35 Supercars Championship races across six seasons, recording a best of seventh place alongside John Cleland in the 2005 Bathurst 1000.
He was also a three-time race winner in Super2 (then known as the Konica Series).
Hill earned his big break this year at Matt Stone Racing following an apprenticeship that included winning Australian Formula Ford (2015) and Porsche Carrera Cup Australia titles (2021) plus a Super2 stint with Triple Eight in 2022.
“I was very lucky to have had Dale in my corner for the last couple of years,” Hill told V8 Sleuth.
“He was a person that I looked to for advice and was a bit of a mentor to me. It was a really cool thing to have that relationship with him.”
Hill’s first contact with Brede came while the latter was running the Canberra Motorcycle Centre.
“My mate Ben Gathercole knew Dale through Canberra circles, so he reached out to Dale and said, ‘would you be interested in chatting with this kid who is trying to make his way up the motorsport ladder?’” Hill explained.
“Obviously Dale had done it himself and had been involved in the industry for a long time.
“He was very kind to give me the time and we built a relationship from that.
“The last Canberran to race in Supercars was Dale so there had been a pretty big gap there.
“There’s not many of us Canberrans that have raced in Supercars so he was the one flying the flag at one point and now hopefully I can do a similar thing and give Canberrans someone to cheer for.”
Brede will be at the forefront of Hill’s mind come the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight later this month.
“I’ll definitely be thinking of him,” said the #35 Truck Assist Camaro driver.
“Hopefully I can do him proud in a way.”
