The double-edged stat Hazelwood leads

Todd Hazelwood has gained the most positions in races across the first 12 races of the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship.

Four rounds down out of 12 this season, the CoolDrive Racing driver has picked up a total of 29 places, based on inline hyperlink where he has started.

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Hazelwood has gained 45 positions and lost 16, with his 'net' result just ahead of Brad Jones Racing trio Jack Smith (27), Macauley Jones (24) and Andre Heimgartner (22).

Further down the order, rookie Declan Fraser has a net of 21, while Bryce Fullwood, Shane van Gisbergen and Scott Pye have nets of 18, 14 and 14 respectively.

Per the stats, drivers starting down the grid have more scope to gain positions and fewer to lose.

Van Gisbergen and Fullwood have made up the most spots with 47 each, with Hazelwood third with 45.

Only four drivers have lost fewer spots than Hazelwood’s 11 — Smith (eight), Pye (nine), Heimgartner (nine) and Fraser (11).

Tim Slade, Thomas Randle and David Reynolds have lost 57, 53 and 51 positions respectively.

Slade, notably, has been punished by mechanical dramas after high starting positions — he lost 18 spots in Newcastle, 14 in Perth and 20 in Tasmania, all to car problems.

Slade has still, however, gained 43 positions — only Fullwood, van Gisbergen and Hazelwood have gained more.

Van Gisbergen’s numbers are skewed by two races — he lost 14 spots with the Tasmania DNF, and 18 with the Newcastle DSQ.

The only other race van Gisbergen has lost ground was when he finished second after starting on pole for the second Albert Park race.

Series leader Brodie Kostecki is setting the standard in qualifying, with three ARMOR ALL Pole Positions and an average grid position of 4.3.

Kostecki has a net of zero, with the bulk of positions lost coming in the Tasmania opener, when he was wiped out at the hairpin and finished 23rd after starting fourth.

The single biggest jump in a race was by Reynolds, who gained a staggering 16 positions — from 24th to eighth — in the Albert Park finale.

That race featured several big jumps due to different tyre strategies — notably, Hazelwood (20th to ninth) and Kostecki (14th to third) also gained lot of ground.

The 2023 season will resume at the betr Darwin Triple Crown on June 16-18. Tickets are on sale now.

Movers and shakers after four rounds (2023)