How speedway shunt turned into mentorship for Kiwi Super2 rookie
Ayrton Hodson impressed with immediate speed in Practice 1
New Zealander being mentored by Shane van Gisbergen for rookie campaign
The pair came together on track in dramatic New Zealand speedway crash in December
Dunlop Super2 Series rookie Ayrton Hodson has a Supercars legend in his corner as he aims to become the next New Zealander to break into the Repco Supercars Championship.
The 19-year-old Kiwi joins an expanded Anderson Motorsport operation in 2025, the team having bought an ex-Will Davison Dick Johnson Racing Mustang during the off-season to join the #17 car driven by fellow rookie Ryan Tomsett.
Hodson turned heads in the opening practice session of the year at the Thrifty Sydney 500 - Opening Round when he topped his first official session in a Supercar.
The Kiwi is a relative unknown in the Supercars community, having only made his first appearance on the Australian racing scene last year in the second-tier Porsche Sprint Challenge.
Driving for Porsche experts McElrea Racing, Hodson finished fifth in the Pro Class, and spent the summer remaining sharp in the GT New Zealand Championship, winning several races in a GT4 Toyota Supra.
It is on the dirt speedways of New Zealand where Hodson has honed his craft, proving a force to be reckoned with in Sprintcars in his homeland.
Hodson has been regular on New Zealand's speedways since he was 14 years old, and only made the transition to circuit racing in 2023.
In December, a chance coming together brought Hodson into the world of three-time Supercars and Bathurst champion Shane van Gisbergen, who also is a noted speedway ace around his circuit racing commitments.
Hodson and van Gisbergen collided at Baypark Speedway, sending the now-NASCAR Cup Series driver into a wild sequence of barrel rolls.
"If anyone was watching Shane [van Gisbergen]'s speedway crash over summer, that was my bad, so Shane if you're watching I'm sorry again!" quipped Hodson during Practice 2 yesterday.
"He's actually helping me out now with Super2 this year, so it worked out alright.
"[He's helping me out with] driving stuff, I'm sending him my onboard on he's helping me out which is really cool with Kiwis. I'm the sole Kiwi in Super2, so it's really cool having him helping out, and it seems to be working so far."
Hodson was quiet during Practice 2 yesterday, only completing eight laps as he banked his tyres for events to come later in the six-round season.
The teenager was highly encouraged by his opening stanza in the Anderson Mustang, and is confident that he can perform well in the first Boost Mobile Qualifying of the season.
"We had a really good start to the day, the Anderson Motorsport Eye Spy Security Ford Mustang has been a rocket ship so far.
"We elected not to run a green set in this session and save them for later in the year because we know we've got a badass fast hot rod, so we'll probably drop down later this session but tomorrow is when it matters.
"We're just saving tyres for later in the year for places like Bathurst where I've never been before where I need that green tyre confidence, so we'll save them for later in the year."
Boost Mobile Qualifying for the opening race of the 2025 Dunlop Super2 Series begins at 2:00pm local time, before Race 1 commences at 5:55pm local time.
