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Matt Stone Racing driver Todd Hazelwood has expressed his interest in going offroad racing in the future.
After a fast start to the 2022 Repco Supercars Championship, Hazelwood has gone into a slight lull in the past few rounds, detailing on the Parked Up Podcast his team have found the issue they need to improve on.
While his mind is focused on growing the team at MSR, Hazelwood showed interest in going back to his roots as a dirt racer.
Hazelwood’s father, Russell, competed in the Bike division at the Finke Desert Race in 2018 and was able to finish with a time of 8 hours and 35 minutes.
With his dirt racing background and the interest in dirt racing in his family, Hazelwood is looking to take that next step in his career, wanting to compete in more racing.
“It’s a little bit left of field and [I] grew a new appreciation when I went there myself, but I’d really love to do a bit of offroad racing and I’d love to have a crack at something like the Finke desert race which runs from Alice Springs to Finke and back in the middle of the year,” Hazelwood said on the podcast.
“It’s usually on the weekend before the Darwin SuperSprint.
“Or maybe in the next couple of years I’d love to have a crack in a trophy truck or something like that, which might create some other opportunities as well.
“Something a bit left of field, something a bit different, and I love the challenge of racing on dirt, I’ve got a bit of a dirt background where I started.”
Hazelwood said he loves the endurance aspect of it, needing navigation and long, hard stints during the races.
“It’s sort of man and machine to a degree, I have no idea when it comes to two wheels, my old man did Finke a few years ago in 2018,” Hazelwood said.
“The feel of the event was just so different.
“It wasn’t so much who was going to win, it was just everyone was there to survive, and I’ve never experienced anything like that.
“The camaraderie amongst each other was so good and everyone was having a ball and back-slapping each other, encouraging one another whether it was rivals or competitors.
“Just that challenge of reacting to different surfaces and corners, everything’s new and sometimes you’re driving blind and physically driving blind with the dust.
“Obviously things go wrong and the only person who can fix it is yourself and your navigator.
“But I like getting hands-on and working on things.”
Hazelwood currently sits 14th in the Supercars standings, but after identifying the reason for his lack of pace, his team will be looking to bounce back at The Bend Motorsport Park in his home state.
