TODD Hazelwood insists he’s not getting distracted by the prospect of chalking up his maiden Supercars race win, despite a stunning start to his tenure at Erebus Motorsport.
Hazelwood ended the opening day of the Thrifty Bathurst 500 second on the timesheets, pipped only by Triple Eight’s ex-Erebus star Will Brown.
While much public attention remains on Brodie Kostecki’s sudden absence from Erebus, Hazelwood is focused on making the most of his unexpected opportunity.
The six-season, 187-start winless journeyman’s full-time Supercars career looked to be at an end when he took an Erebus co-drive for 2024, but may now only be just beginning.
“I’m just taking every lap and every opportunity in front of me with both hands,” he said after Practice 2, which began in heavily wet conditions before drying out.
“Obviously really fortunate to be strapped into a car that’s more than capable.
“The team’s more than capable and really fortunate to have some fantastic engineers and mechanics and staff behind the scenes that have provided me with a fantastic chassis.
“The TFH Hire #99 was pretty hooked up out there in both conditions, both in the wet and the dry I felt really comfortable, wasn’t really taking any risks or anything like that.
“From a driver’s perspective, we all know how tough it is to put a lap in around the Mountain at the best of times.
“So when you can do it confidently and comfortably in both conditions and be towards the top of the timesheets is always a shot in the arm full of confidence.
“We’ll keep building, keep learning.
“I’m still very early in the piece of it all, still learning at a million miles an hour understanding the set-up philosophy, understanding how the whole team works and how we make these cars go fast.
“It’s been a big day, two very different conditions, obviously the start of the day being pretty hot and greasy. Information overload at the moment and just trying to process it to be honest.”
Hazelwood, 28, stressed that he’s not getting ahead of himself despite the fast start.
“Not really trying to focus on winning races or being on the podium,” he said.
“Obviously that’s always the goal or the objective, but just trying to put my best foot forward and do the best job. Wherever that lands me, I don’t know.
“It’s a new season, new changes to the cars, so many changes up and down pitlane with drivers, personnel, there’s so much going on.
“Until we put the cars in qualifying tomorrow and everyone is in full, fast race-pace trim, who knows where we’re going to end up?
“I always say never count your chickens until they hatch, so we’ll see how we go tomorrow and hopefully we’re up here again.
“That’d be cool, but if not, we’ll just keep chipping away at it and take one day at a time.”
Hazelwood has only been confirmed in the #99 entry for Round 1 at this stage, but is widely expected to complete the full campaign with the team.
