BJR eyeing teams’ championship success

Todd Hazelwood is determined to do his bit to help Brad Jones Racing hunt an equal history-best placing in the teams’ championship this year.

The team’s lead pairing of Hazelwood and Nick Percat had another strong outing this month at Sydney Motorsport Park, with a maiden podium for the former and a second win in 2020 for the latter.

WATCH: HAZELWOOD'S LAST-LAP PASS TO STEAL PODIUM

It’s left the Albury squad fourth in the teams’ standings, merely 60 points behind the Tickford Racing duo of Lee Holdsworth and James Courtney.

BJR’s best ever placing was the third they achieved in 2013, when Fabian Coulthard and Jason Bright both enjoyed race-winning campaigns.

Having slipped to sixth in the pitlane pecking order following a mixed 2019, off-season recruit Hazelwood is keen to play his part in rectifying that situation.

“From internally, we’ve all been discussing our goals for this year and that’s certainly trying to move the team forward in pitlane for next year,” Hazelwood told Supercars.com.

“We’ve got our sights firmly on what we want to achieve for next year, which is good, and I think we have taken a really good step forward in that.

“We’ve always got our eyes set on being the best of the rest [behind DJR Team Penske and Triple Eight] so it’s as simple as that.

“We will take baby steps and we will go about it methodically round-by-round and see how we’re shaping up.

“But at the moment we’re not too far off our target so hopefully by the end of the year we’re happy with what we have been able to achieve and we can continue to keep pushing forward.”

Having spent his first two Supercars seasons in a single-car Matt Stone Racing outfit, Hazelwood is enjoying the chance to prove his worth alongside a proven teammate in Percat.

“I think it’s been great for me personally to really stamp my authority within the championship,” said Hazelwood.

“You’re only as good as your last race meeting so you’ve always got to be keeping your head down and trying to push forward because we’ve had some really strong results recently but for me I always want more and there is still a lot to prove yet.

“All in all, it has been a really positive restart to our championship since the COVID period.

“The whole team at BJR have been fighting fit and ready for any challenge and it has really shown over the last couple of rounds in Sydney.

“If we can be strong [at Darwin and Townsville], I think we can put a really strong championship together which for me as a younger driver coming through the ranks and with big aspirations, that’s really exciting.”

First up among the next wave of challenges is the BetEasy Darwin Triple Crown on August 8-9.