HOW do you make winning a race Supercars drivers already describe as the holy grail of their sport even more special? Throw in the challenges of doing it in a year when the series has been impacted by a pandemic.
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Brad Jones Racing talent Todd Hazelwood might be a relative newcomer when it comes to the Bathurst 1000 - this year will mark his fourth tilt - but he knew well before his debut in 2017 just how special winning at Mount Panorama is.
Completing 161 laps of one the world's most challenging circuits faster that any other car is not easy and the 25-year-old knows doing so this year will mean overcoming even more hurdles.
The COVID-19 pandemic means many co-drivers have not had seat time, the stints will be much longer than anything they've encountered this year, while teams face their first driver and brake changes of the season plus having to make multiple fuel stops.
There will be less crew in their garage and many of the lead drivers have been on the road for more than 100 days due to quarantine regulations.
While the prize for winning - the Peter Brock Trophy - remains the same, Hazelwood thinks hoisting it will feel even more rewarding for the victor.
"Bathurst is Bathurst you know the stakes are no different to any other year we go there, but I think whoever wins it is going to be very deserving, if not more deserving, because of the challenges we've had this year," he said.
"There are so many variables going to Bathurst, we haven't done any fuel pit stop races since the start of the year at Adelaide, co-drivers haven't had that experience and for us drivers, we haven't done a race over 100 kilometres since that first race at Adelaide, it's been a long time since we've all done long stints in the car.
"The atmosphere may not be there at the end of the day because all those fans won't be there, but I feel the winner may be even more deserving considering the circumstances."
Opening practice for this year's event will commence at 9.30am on Thursday, October 15. The race itself gets the green light at 11.30am on Sunday, October 18.
