Truck Assist Racing’s Cameron Hill is embracing his and co-driver Jaylyn Robotham’s ‘underdog’ status for the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000.
Both made their Repco Supercars Championship debuts in last year’s Great Race, the Canberran at PremiAir Racing and Robotham in the Matt Chahda Motorsport wildcard, and hence can lay claim to only a combined two starts in the Mount Panorama endurance classic.
Hill will be making a few more at least given he has just inked a multi-year to stay at Matt Stone Racing for 2024 and beyond, a vote of confidence in the 26-year-old’s talent.
However, he makes the #35 Chevrolet Camaro to be one of the less fancied entries in the enduros, which start this Friday at Sandown, and that suits him just fine.
“I’m really keen to have my first enduro as a main driver,” said Hill.
“It should be a lot of fun. Jaylyn and I really get along, we’re similar in our stature as well as how we drive the car, so that’s good.
“The enduros are always the events where the little guys pluck away all day and end up somewhere near the front.
“We are the underdogs, which is a tag I don’t mind having. We can just focus on our own race and try not to get caught up in anyone else’s mess. That will be the biggest thing.
“It will be the first Supercars race of the year for the co-drivers [and] Sandown has been a pretty gnarly place in the past that throws up a few surprises.
“If we can just stay out of trouble and run our own race, that is sometimes enough to put you in a good position.
“If there was anywhere this year where we will need to bust the wets out, we’d have all circled Sandown as the most likely at the start of the season.
“It can throw up surprises with the weather, it can be raining when the radar says it’s clear and do the opposite. That’ll be something the team as well as us as drivers will have to keep on top of.
“It’s certainly not an easy race, nothing is straightforward. It’s all about minimising mistakes and being consistent. Car speed is always key.
“It’s good to be heading in with more seat time under my belt as well, especially the 250km races, which will all come in handy.
“It will be hard and fast pretty much all day. Whichever drivers and teams execute the best will get the result.”
In the sister #34 MSR Camaro, Hidden Valley race winner Jack Le Brocq will be joined by Jayden Ojeda.
Practice 1 at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 starts on Friday at 10:45 local time/AEST.
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