Hughes, 20, hurt his shoulder in a Super2 Series crash at the Ipswich Super440 on Saturday.
The youngster was the innocent victim in an incident that Hughes believes caused his left shoulder to momentarily pop out of its socket, leaving him with bruising.
Heavy damage to his Erebus Academy Commodore ruled Hughes out of the remainder of the Super2 weekend, but he’s back on track with the team for co-driver test duties.
Hughes is preparing to make his Supercars debut in the Bend and Bathurst endurance events alongside Jack Le Brocq in the #9 Tyrepower Camaro.
“It’s like I’ve got an elephant sitting on my shoulder as I’m doing a lap,” Hughes told Speedcafe of his experience behind the wheel during the morning running.
“We did a long run, 12 laps, but after the fourth lap, I was like, ‘this is going to start kicking in’ and then it was pretty sore for the rest of that race run.
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“It’s definitely kicking in now, but nothing a bit of Nurofen and a bit of pressing on can’t fix.”
Hughes said the situation will impact the team’s test day run plan.
“I can’t do as long a run as [team boss] Baz [Ryan] would have liked to and probably can’t do as many laps as I would have liked to, because it does hurt quite a bit,” he added.
“But it hasn’t affected like the lap speed so far, which has been good. I’ve been loving the car and it’s been fast, so it’s been alright.”
Injury aside, Hughes said he feels more at home in the Gen3 Camaro than his regular mount – an Erebus-built Gen2 Commodore.
“It feels so much better,” he said. “We’re struggling this year in Super2, so to drive this feels pretty good.
“I actually feel more natural in this one. To be fair, last year, the ZB felt quite good and I felt sort of at one with the car.
“Not so much this year in Super 2, but this car, hop back in and it just feels all natural and feels really good. So I’m excited.”
Hughes’ injury was particularly poorly timed as today’s test is followed by a Supercars ride day on Wednesday and a round of the TA2 Muscle Car Series this weekend.
The TA2 Tag Team Enduro event at Ipswich is headlined by Hughes’ co-driver, none other than seven-time Bathurst winner Craig Lowndes.
“I’ve got to be fine for that,” Hughes added of driving with Lowndes. “I’ll put a prosthetic arm on if I have to.”
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