HAZELWOOD AND FULLWOOD GEARING UP FOR BIGMATE BATHURST DEBUT

PRESS RELEASE/Bigmate Racing – Photo: supplied

One of the youngest driver pairings in this year’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 is set to make Bigmate Racing’s Mt Panorama debut this week. 

Todd Hazelwood (23) and Bryce Fullwood (20) have set foot at the Bathurst circuit, in what is an exciting time of the year for the two drivers. 

Hazelwood added that he’s pumped for the weekend ahead and also welcomed some new partners to the team. 

“It’s very exciting to be here in Bathurst for the biggest week of the year,” Hazelwood said.

“I love the feeling of getting goosebumps arriving here at Mt Panorama—and being the first 1000 race as a lead driver is a proud moment and I cannot wait to see what we can achieve as a team this weekend.

“With Bathurst being one of our biggest events of the year, it has attracted some great new team partners with Verto, Nulon Racing Oil, Hurst Recovery, Leeton Harley + Bike Muster and NavAir.”

Hazelwood mentioned that while there are no expectations for the event, this race is all about the ‘under-dog’. 

“This race is so well known for the ‘underdog’ standout performance and the team have put in a huge amount of effort to give ourselves the best possible chance of a good result,” Hazelwood said. 

“With big points up for grabs in one race, hopefully we can keep it clean and we can be in the running after that final pit stop with 30-odd laps to go on Sunday afternoon. 

“Finishing 12th last year was pretty awesome [co-driving with Tim Blanchard], hopefully I can improve that result this year, which would make it our best for the season.”

After making his Virgin Australia Supercars Championship debut at the RABBLE.club Sandown 500, Fullwood said that he’s ready for the exciting challenge ahead. 

“I’m feeling excited—it’s a huge race and there is always so much action,” Fullwood said.  

“I’m excited to be doing it alongside Todd and if we all do our job properly, we may find ourselves in a good spot in that last stint when it really matters … we just have to stay out of trouble and do our thing.” 

Fullwood will also be racing in the Dunlop Super2 Series standalone 250-kilometre race this weekend, where he believes it will benefit the Bigmate Racing team. 

“I think the big thing that I’ll learn will be just the in and out of the pits, stopping on the marks and maximising out laps and that sort of thing,” Fullwood added. 

“It will be a good warm-up for the race on Sunday where any small mistakes in pit stops will hurt us a lot, especially when we will do so many of them.

“It’ll also help with making sure I can sustain a good pace over the run and give me a chance to work on things if I need to overnight before we start the big race.” 

The Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 begins tomorrow with practice, with the event to run on 4-7 October.

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