Rookies to take on Mount Panorama

Three Dunlop Series drivers will line up on the grid for their rookie assault of Bathurst this weekend, and to make things a little bit harder, it'll be a 250 kilometre endurance race.

Macauley Jones, Todd Hazelwood and Dan Day will all contest in the series' maiden mini-enduro around Mount Panorama on Saturday - the first time each will take on Bathurst in a V8 Supercar.

The mini-enduro - called the Wilson MedicOne Enduro - will be Jones' third round in the category, and despite impressing on debut, the 19-year-old understands his trip to the mountain will be a learning curve.

"The biggest things are having confidence in the car and learning the circuit as fast as possible," he told v8supercars.com.au.

"And with the limited track time we get, you need to make the most of it and make sure you get some clean laps and not go out of the gate too hard and make mistakes - you just need to be consistent and persistent with it and push to get faster and faster.

"We just want to get the most amount of laps around the circuit as we possible can and get our first race meeting there under our belt and leave there with hopefully a good result and the car all straight."

Coming from the Brad Jones Racing stable, Jones has been relying on the team's engineers and watching previous race videos to prepare for his V8 Supercar debut at the mountain, as well as picking the brains of some very qualified drivers.

"I've been speaking to my dad [Brad Jones] quite a lot about the circuit, and even to Mark Skaife who has given me help in the past," he said.

"It's really great that I have the resources there [at BJR] that enables me to talk to a lot of the drivers in the main series team and the engineers we have there.

"As it gets closer, I will start to talk more with them and we'll do a team track walk where I can follow them and listen to their every word of their advice and get the tips that they have. Jason and Fabian both do well around there, so it will be good to get their insight."

Meanwhile, Hazelwood believes the Matt Stone Racing outfit can continue the strong rookie form they've showed this season during the 250km trek around the legendary circuit.

"I certainly don't have any expectations but solely focussing on doing my job, putting in a good performance and whatever happens will be the result," he said.

"We're confident that we can get a good result based on our performances we've done this year, and at a lot of the events I've raced at this year it's been my first time.

"250 kilometres in a race car is the longest distance I've ever raced, let alone around Bathurst, so that's a challenge within itself but we're really looking forward to what lies ahead. I think our package is really good and I can't wait to see how it all unfolds."

The Adelaide native currently sits on the fringes of the top ten in the championship points after falling outside at Queensland Raceway.

Now, Hazelwood is confident he can return his Matt Sone Racing Falcon to the top ten, given a strong finish in the mini-enduro.

"There's a lot of points up for grabs [for the mini-enduro] so the last thing you want to do is have a DNF," he said.

"If we can get through Bathurst nice and cleanly and bank some good points, then we can go into Sydney for the last round with good confidence and a good package to do well there.

"I'm confident in myself and the team we can do a good job and hopefully get close to the top five in the championship again."

The Dunlop Series will take to the track for the first time at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 today for practice coming up at 10.15am, before the first ever Wilson MedicOne Enduro - make sure you're trackside to witness the rookies take on Bathurst.