cars

Hazelwood ready to bounce back after fifth placing on day one

Dunlop Development Series, Todd Hazelwood Racing
Hazelwood in Practice yesterday. Credit: Jake Burgess/0-100 Photography

Hazelwood in Practice yesterday. Credit: Jake Burgess/0-100 Photography

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN Todd Hazelwood has placed fifth in practice for Round 2 of the V8 Supercars Dunlop Series at Barbagallo Raceway for the Perth SuperSprint this weekend.

The round is coming off the bat from a successful test day last week at Matt Stone Racing’s home track at Queensland Raceway, and the 19-year-old is confident going into qualifying tomorrow.

“Our performance in Practice 2 was very encouraging and showed that we have genuine speed to compete for the podium this weekend,” Hazelwood said.

“I was held up in traffic on my fastest lap which cost me time.

“We have good potential to move further forward tomorrow and hopefully we can put it all together in the short qualifying session tomorrow, as the times are very close so the smallest mistake will be costly.”

The teenager believes that preserving the tyres as much as possible will help this weekend in the races.

“The practice session was rather frustrating as the first few flying laps of the session were the fastest, and then for the last 30 minutes we were making good progress with set-up but didn’t have enough tyre life left to get a reading if we were making progress or not,” Hazelwood said.

“But it was good to have a long run on the tyres and see how long they lasted.

“We had good speed on old tyres, which will help us with long high tyre degradation tomorrow.”

The South Australian will head into Round 2 of the championship at Perth sitting inside the top ten of the Dunlop Development Series in ninth position on 174 points.

The Mike Kable Young Gun managed to finish fourth on debut at Barbagallo last year, and wants to go that step further gaining his first podium in the series.

Today’s racing kicks off with Qualifying and Race 1, which will be live on Foxtel.

Racing schedule: Perth SuperSprint (Live on Fox 5)
Saturday
Qualifying 1 – 11:55 (40 minutes)
Race 1 – 14:15 (28 laps)
Sunday
Race 2 – 10:10 (28 laps)
Race 3 – 12:45 (28 laps)

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Pastor “Crashdonado”

Formula 1, Spultured

Pastor ‘Crashdonaldo.’

A name used by many to describe Pastor Maldonado, a driver who could quite possibly be the most overrated Formula 1 winner of all time.

I don’t like bagging drivers – and I completely respect them for what they do for y’know, a day job. But seriously, after the incident at Bahrain, how dare you flip poor Esteban Gutierrez! And not to mention he flipped Gutierrez mid-corner just coming out of the pits? That’s simply not on.

I feel sorry for Esteban, and in his defence the rollover was very stylish. I completely agree with him in saying, “What was that!?”

Now what made me REALLY laugh, was this crash at Round Five of the Championship in Shanghai.

“I crashed,” Maldonado said.

“Oh,” Lotus said.

“I’m sorry,” Crashdonaldo continued.

But wait, it gets better. Check out how his pit crew at Lotus reacts right here.

Clearly, Lotus is ecstatic about Maldonado replacing their beloved Kimi Raikkonen.

Of course there’s more (yes, this is an article about Maldonado crashing). Check out Maldonado crashing out in Q1 at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Oh, but it couldn’t hold it in for the race despite only qualifying 22nd, so this happened.

By the way, here’s a fun fact. Maldonado was supposed to be banned from the Monaco circuit after a race when he was racing Formula Renault a few years ago. He didn’t obey a yellow flag, and he actually injured a marshal. Of course, his investors jumped in and paid for the injured to come good; therefore he got away with not being banned. What!

This year he actually made it around the Monaco circuit, his first time of not retiring since, ever.

We all have our point of view, but I’m sure this article may have made your point a little clearer. We are only halfway through the Formula 1 season, and he’s pretty much crashed at every race.

You could say this article made you LOLdonaldo.

Dick Johnson: I’m in the Sh*t

Australian V8 Supercars, Spultured
Dick Johnson at his workshop in Stapylton, Queensland

Dick Johnson at his workshop in Stapylton, Queensland

Most 68-year-olds would be celebrating their success and settling down to retire, but for V8 Touring Car legend Dick Johnson, things have taken a turn for the worst.

Johnson, who has been involved in the V8 Supercar industry for over three decades, recently came out and told the media that he is broke, simply putting it as he is ‘in the shit’, having lost $9.1m dollars in recent years due to dodgy deals surrounding sponsorship for his team Dick Johnson Racing.

A company called Westpoint came on-board with Dick Johnson Racing after Shell Helix ended their sponsorship contract with the team, with the company later becoming bankrupt and costing Dick Johnson Racing millions.

Since Westpoint’s failed sponsorship, Dick Johnson and his team have struggled to make it by. Johnson then decided to create a phone company called Firstrock, with the company one year later falling to pieces.

Jim Beam then came to DJR’s rescue, sponsoring the team until the 2013 season. Things were looking up for the team here, with Dick Johnson Racing securing their first V8 Championship in decades with James Courtney, who later moved to Holden Racing Team.

Since Courtney’s departure, Dick Johnson Racing is yet to pick up another race win. Steven Johnson (Dick Johnson’s son) was forced to leave the team this year and opted for the Porsches in the Carrera Cup series, as another driver was able to bring more money to the team.

John Reid was the driver set to replace Junior Johnson (Editor’s note: *muted laughter*) at the start of the year, but not long after the first couple of races was replaced by young Ford Performance Racing driver Chaz Mostert.

Dick Johnson is currently living on $365 per week, just getting by. Johnson also noted that he is paying his employees correctly and the only thing he owns a part of in the company is the workshop.

A new book will be released soon, highlighting the struggles of Dick Johnson Racing and also his personal life. You ought go out and buy it and give the old fella a hand!

Day One Review: Round Four of the Championship

Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship, Todd Hazelwood Racing
Todd in practice at Sydney

Todd in practice at Sydney

TODD Hazelwood has started his fourth round debut in the Ausrtralian Formula 3 championship at Sydney Motorsport Park in style, registering the second quickest time in practice today.

Today’s practice included two 30-minute sessions, giving the Fujitsu Racing driver enough time to adapt to the circuit in readiness for tomorrow’s racing.

“It’s been a great learning curve driving around the Sydney Motorsport Park circuit today,” said Hazelwood.

“I’m happy with how I adapted to the track, but there are still some areas I need to improve on.

“We have showed some great signs of speed today, hopefully tomorrow we can challenge for pole position and breakthrough for a race win.”

Todd Hazelwood is currently second in the Forpark National class, hoping to close the gap on the championship leader.

Tomorrow’s racing includes one 20-minute qualifying session and two 9-lap races.

To follow Todd Hazelwood’s progress throughout this weekend for the fourth round of the Australian Formula 3 Championship, like Todd Hazelwood on Facebook or follow Todd on Twitter.

Saturday’s schedule: Shannons National’s Sydney Motorsport Park

10:15 Qualifying (20 minutes)
13:25 Race 1 (9 laps)
15:30 Race 2 (9 laps)