WHEN Todd Hazelwood lost his full-time Supercars seat, he laid out a clear plan of attack: find an opportunity where he could compete for wins, stay relevant and build a foundation to return to the main game in 2025.
That plan is coming together just as he drew it up.
Past the halfway point of the National Trans Am Series, he sits third in the title race, 41 points behind leader James Moffat.
Last weekend at The Bend, he broke through for a race win – his first in a national level car category since the 2017 Super2 Series.
“It was a great feeling,” Hazelwood told V8 Sleuth.
“On the major stage at a more prominent event, it had certainly been a while since you feel like you were in a race-winning position and had an opportunity to capitalise.
“It has been refreshing for the mind. I think the biggest thing for me at the moment is I’ve just been really enjoying it and that’s probably something that I haven’t been able to achieve in the last few years in the sport, it has been pretty tolling on the mind.
“So to have a new challenge and be fully motivated towards it, it’s all good fun.”
Hazelwood is relishing the chance to be at the centre of TFH Racing’s program as it takes the fight to Trans Am giant Garry Rogers Motorsport.
“Joining the team at TFH at the end of last year and having the vision of building up the Trans Am program, it has been a really cool pet project to be involved in,” he said.
“We’ve come a hell of a long way in six months.
“To think that we’re actually in championship contention up against the likes of GRM, who have essentially dominated the category… I think it shows how hard we have been working behind the scenes to make that sort of progress in such a short space of time.
“So a big kudos to everyone back at the workshop and from my point of view it has been really rewarding, to put the hard work and actually see the results come to life off the back of that.”
Doubling down on challenging the team that won the 2000 Bathurst 1000 and fields the likes of Moffat, James Golding and Tim Slade among its five-car fleet, Hazelwood said: “It’s certainly well-documented, the resources of GRM.
“Obviously they have got a line-up of drivers that have been able to develop the set-ups and maximise data over a race weekend as opposed to me, myself and I trying to come up with something that I think will work and is purely based off the small amount of knowledge that I’ve got from the first couple of rounds of racing this car.
“And obviously working alongside Josh Thomas as well, who is essentially brand-new to circuit racing, so two very different types of teams but we’re very hungry and very motivated, we have got a great group of people with some vast amounts of experience.
“Like anything you do in life, you’re only as good as the people around you and we’re really fortunate at TFH Racing that we have got some really good key staff that are helping us make the difference when it comes to on-track performance.”
Nevertheless, Supercars remains the goal.
Hazelwood scored a couple of unexpected solo rounds earlier this year filling in for Brodie Kostecki and will co-drive with the 2023 champion at Sandown and Bathurst.
But can he force his way back onto the full-time grid for 2025?
“It’s hard to really know at the moment. I’m certainly trying to put the feelers out there to understand what’s available in the driver market,” said the 28-year-old.
“There’s probably a couple of dominos that need to fall to really get a proper understanding of what is truly out there and if there is actually going to be any spots available for next season.
“When there’s not much driver movement, obviously it makes it very hard for someone like myself to get back into the sport.
“For me that’s still my goal, I still want to be involved in Supercars at a competitive level. Whatever I do, I want to make sure I’m doing it properly.
“So that’s still the motivation, but to be honest it’s a bit unclear at the moment as to what the future looks like for me in Supercars. It’s play the waiting game and keep trying to do the best job that I possibly can do.”
