Imagery key to Hazelwood preparation

Some drivers turn to simulators to prepare for a race meeting; for Todd Hazelwood, there’s a much more cost-effective option.

WATCH: HAZELWOOD'S FLYER PUTS HIM FIFTH FOR RACE 9 GRID

The Brad Jones Racing driver has revealed his preference to count on a mix of mental imagery and video analysis to get himself ready for an event.

“Obviously a lot of people rely on simulators and a few other techniques to try to rehearse whereas for me, I find more benefit in spending time studying video whether it be my own video or other drivers’ video,” Hazelwood told Supercars.com.

“You certainly pick up different techniques in how people either set up their car and make the car pointy or more reliant on drive, and then that’s obviously a reflection of how competitive they are.

“So it’s quite interesting to look into that.

“And then from a mental imagery point of view, it’s something that you can essentially practice with anything and it’s free.

“It’s just more so you have got to dedicate time to it to make it beneficial, so that’s something I use in my training and I feel like it pays dividends come race day.”

Asked whether it’s about picturing the perfect lap or analysing potential mistakes to avoid, he added: “The cool thing is it’s essentially anything that you really want to work on or rehearse.

“If it’s a qualifying scenario, ultimately you’re trying to nail that perfect lap and imagine the car being on a knife’s edge and maximising every element and imagining every little detail in the circuit as well.

“All those small details make a difference over a lap. So that’s where the preparation is key and it could be a race scenario, it could be rehearsing a start of a lap.

“And that’s where I suppose the belief system also comes into it as well because then you can start to imagine where you may be in race situations and practising your belief system and where you think you should be on the grid.”

Hazelwood had one of the strongest showings of his young career in the BP Ultimate Sydney SuperSprint finale, qualifying fifth and threatening to jag a maiden podium before a rollbar failure limited him to eighth.

The 24-year-old will return for another shot at Sydney Motorsport Park as part of the Truck Assist Sydney SuperSprint on July 18-19.