WHEN Todd Hazelwood stood on the Bathurst 6 Hour podium in April as a class winner, the talented young driver had no idea the slopes of Mount Panorama had a bigger challenge lying in wait.
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Come October, the 21-year-old Adelaide native will make his debut in the Bathurst 1000.
He will do so as co-driver for Tim Blanchard in the Brad Jones Racing CoolDrive Commodore. Hazelwood’s selection follows on from a successful test for the team at Winton last month.
“It's amazing what a dream and hard work can achieve,” Hazlewood said.
“[It’s] A very special moment for my career and looking forward to this massive opportunity with Brad Jones Racing.
“I am very proud and excited to be joining Tim Blanchard and Team CoolDrive in the 2017 Pirtek Endurance Cup. I look forward to the challenge and seeing what Tim and I can achieve together.”
While Blanchard currently sits 23rd in the Supercars championship – his best result a 12th in race 11 at Darwin - Hazelwood has been impressing in the Dunlop Super2 Series.
In the series which operates as a second-tier to the Supercars, Hazelwood is second in the championship.
The Bigmate Racing driver has stood on the podium seven times, with two of those thanks to wins at Clipsal and Tasmania.
Competing in the Supercars’ three-endurance rounds – of which the Bathurst 1000 is the highlight – is a chance for the young talent to further impress.
“Cannot say how much this opportunity means to me and would just like to say a special thank you to all the people who have helped play a role in my racing career to get me to this point,” he said.
“Tim has a great team around him at Brad Jones Racing and after working alongside the crew at Winton, I can see myself fitting in really well and getting the most out of myself in the car.
“Although I have only driven the CoolDrive Commodore in the wet around Winton, I felt really comfortable and cannot wait to do some dry running soon.
“Being my first endurance campaign, I will be learning at a great rate and taking in as much as I can to assist Tim. The BJR team showed last year their cars have great potential during the endurance season and I feel with the right preparation, Tim and I can really put together some strong results.”
The other BJR car at Bathurst will see regular Nick Percat share his seat with Macauley Jones.
Like Hazelwood, Jones is excited to compete in the endurance races. This will be his third year doing so.
“I’m very excited to be pairing with Nick ... he’s won Bathurst before and was on the podium again last year which is a really cool achievement,” he said.
