Hazelwood: BJR has the blend to succeed

Todd Hazelwood believes Brad Jones Racing has the right mix of stability and hunger in their 2020 driver ranks to propel the Albury squad to success.

Hazelwood has joined BJR after six seasons with Matt Stone Racing, including two in the main game.

The 24-year-old joins incumbents Nick Percat, 31, and Macauley Jones, 25, plus 20-year-old rookie Jack Smith in an expanded four car line-up.

In the early days of the Car of the Future era, BJR proved a force to be reckoned with; primarily between Jason Bright and Fabian Coulthard, the team scored eight wins and 40 podiums from 2013-15.

The silverware has dried up since then, with 10 podiums across the past four seasons and their last win coming in 2016 at the hands of departed veteran Tim Slade.

Hazelwood feels the new-look BJR line-up can drive the Holden outfit forward.

“Having a guy that’s fairly established and two younger guys and obviously Jack being a rookie as well, that mixture of a bit of stability within the team but also young hunger as well, it certainly won’t be a bad thing for the team moving forward,” he told Supercars.com.

“I’ve got a lot of faith in the product that Brad Jones Racing will be able to produce for me next year and the whole team as well.

“Obviously they’re at an exciting time now where they’re expanding from three to four cars and I think there’s going to be a few extra elements that is going to be able to help them step up the capability of the team, which is really exciting.

“I’m certainly not expecting to come in and sweep the floor and be on the podium straightaway but it’s something that I’m really looking forward to working towards.”

Although Slade was the only BJR driver to step on the podium this year, it was Percat who led the team’s charge for much of the campaign en route to ninth in the standings.

The chance for Hazelwood to benchmark himself against Percat should prove a good test of where he’s at, having not had a teammate since his 2017 Dunlop Super2 championship when he ran alongside Adam Marjoram.

“Having the opportunity to talk with another driver after a session and work out where they’re finding the speed or what issues that they have and vice versa – I suppose the more people you can work with, the better off you’re going to be,” Hazelwood said.

“And obviously the extra resources of the engineering group as well, I’m really looking forward to seeing how it all works and I think that’s going to get more out of myself as well.

“I think working with a driver with the calibre of Nick, obviously he has shown that he has got great speed and his ability in qualifying is really good.

“Hopefully I can see what he does and learn off that.”

Hazelwood’s fresh start will include linking with a new engineer in Tony Woodward, with his former long-time engineer Wes McDougall confirmed to be staying on at MSR.

The South Australian native finished 18th in the 2019 championship with a best finish of fifth at Pukekohe.