'What the hell just happened': Hazelwood recounts whirlwind

Todd Hazelwood's last-minute call-up to drive the famed #17 Ford for Dick Johnson Racing on Sunday is the stuff dreams are made of.

In Darwin defending his back-to-back Trans Am titles, the 2024 Bathurst winner had already deputised for Kostecki in Thursday's Track to Town activation as the 2023 champion battled a virus.

In fact, Kostecki had been battling it for well over a week, yet he did what he always does, and with his back against the wall, put in two stirring drives to claw his way back into the fight by the end of Saturday.

But, Saturday was brutal for Kostecki, who had to contend with a malfunctioning drinks system. By race's end, he had to be helped out of his car, with engineer George Commins taking to the podium in his place as he was tended to by medical staff, and Team Manager Tom Moore attending the post-race press conference.

When Sunday dawned, it quickly became apparent that Hazelwood would step up to the plate should Kostecki not be able to take the wheel. Come the end of the day, Hazelwood was still in a state of shock and disbelief.

"I probably haven't really had a moment to really process what the hell just happened,’ Hazelwood told Supercars' Equip Super Cool Down Lap podcast.

"The whole day has just been a absolute whirlwind, from the moment when Tom came up to the window on the dummy grid for the Trans Am race.

“[Moore] said, 'Hey, make sure that you don't run away post-race, because we may need you, depending on how the physio goes with Brodie’.

"I'm not prepared for this at all. Did the race, and yeah, straight away Tom was there when I got out the car. So I raced over to the garage and I saw Brodie quickly, which was good.

"He's a friend of mine, so first and foremost, I just wanna make sure that he gets back to his normal self ASAP. I saw him about a week ago and he wasn't well then either, so he's been fighting this virus.

“It's never nice when you come to the extreme heat of Darwin in a race car, it sucks the life out of you at the best of times, let alone when you're under the weather and he did a phenomenal job to box on yesterday.”

But when opportunity knocked, the popular Hazelwood stunned.

In qualifying, he was just 0.02s away from making the Top Ten Shootout, snaring 13th in his first running in the #17 Ford, some three positions and one tenth of a second ahead of Rylan Gray.

Save for early contact with Declan Fraser, Hazelwood kept up the form in the race to sit just outside the top 10, finishing 12th despite battling with a failing clutch and pins and needles in his feet, as he battled with makeshift seat inserts.

But, it was the qualifying experience, something he hasn't had the chance to do since Albert Park, 2024, that scratched an itch for the 2017 Super2 champion.

“For me, selfishly, cool to get behind the wheel of a Supercar, I'm not gonna lie,” Hazelwood said.

“Obviously the car's been exceptional all weekend. Brodie's been on the podium, he's been on front row, he's been on pole position, done a phenomenal job.

"So for me to sorta come in and sweep up all the fruits of his hard work was cool. In some ways I was a little bit frustrated that I didn't make the Top Ten Shootout, because I knew the car's more than capable of.

"I was just experimenting a little bit out there. I was still trying to just find my feet, and I made a little mistake in the last sector, which probably would've slotted us into the 10. Hey, everyone's got those stories.”

It sure made for a much more exciting Sunday than what he otherwise would've had. After all, a racing driver would much rather sit behind the wheel of a racing car than in economy class on a flight.

“Halfway through that race, I saw a plane leaving as I was heading towards Turn 6, and I thought, ‘I reckon that was my flight, that was the plane I was meant to be on’.

“Quite a bizarre day."