A CHARITABLE act from Todd Hazelwood last year has led to TFH Hire’s last-minute backing of under-siege Erebus Motorsport ahead of the 2024 Supercars season opener.
The team this morning unveiled its two new Chevrolet Camaros in the colours of the privately-owned temporary fencing hire company.
It follows the recent exit of three key Erebus sponsors – Coca-Cola, Shaw & Partners and SCTR Truck Rentals – amid the fallout of Brodie Kostecki’s exit from the team.
TFH Hire owner Brett Thomas had already agreed to back Kostecki stand-in Hazelwood’s Trans Am program this year, and has come to Erebus through the driver.
“The Erebus team in general, everybody knows they’re the number one team, the championship-winning team from last year,” explained Thomas.
“I have a personal relationship with Todd and it’s funny how things work out in life.
“Todd supported us with a charity day last year out of the goodness of his heart, he turned up and obviously didn’t want anything for it.
“Then an opportunity came up, Todd lost his ride last year, I threw out a bit of an olive branch and said, ‘would you like to run a Trans Am?’, which we agreed to.
“Then obviously Erebus came along for him (initially as a co-driver). It was a great thing for Todd at the time. I’m supporting Todd basically because Todd supported us.
“That opened the door to have some conversations with Erebus only a short time back and we were able to come to some terms.
“We’re happy to be here and part of the Erebus team and support Jack (Le Brocq) and Todd.”
The TFH Hire sponsorship is understood to be a three-round deal at this stage.
While Hazelwood is only officially in the #99 entry for this weekend’s Thrifty Bathurst 500, it’s widely expected that he’ll end up tackling the full season in the car.
It marks a big opportunity for the 28-year-old, whose six previous Supercars seasons were spread across Matt Stone Racing, Brad Jones Racing and the Blanchard Racing Team.
“I’m just taking one day at a time at the moment,” said Hazelwood of the situation.
“It’s obviously been a big month and a lot is happening behind the scenes, but just taking it round by round at this stage.
“I’m here at Bathurst to do my best job for the team, what happens after that we’ll wait and see.”
Hazelwood confirmed that his Trans Am Series program – which coincidentally is in a Ford Mustang – will continue regardless of the Erebus opportunity.
“I’m fully committed to the Trans Am program,” he said.
“There’s been no issues from both sides of the fence.
“Barry (Ryan) and the management team at Erebus see it as a positive thing for me to be doing extra laps in the Trans Am program.
“Now with only 12 rounds in the Supercars Championship, us drivers are all chomping at the bit of what else we can do outside of Supercars.
“Trans Am fits that curriculum perfectly because there’s only one clash at the end of the year at the Adelaide 500.
“If we get to that point of the year we’ll worry about it then, but for now I’ll be doubling up, the calendar works well, basically one event after the other for the first half of the year.”
