Todd Hazelwood is refusing to let a surge to the Dunlop Super2 Series points lead affect his focus as his title push begins to gather momentum.
The 21-year-old jumped to the series lead for the first time following a sweep of the fourth round at the Watpac Townsville 400.
Hazelwood’s third and fourth race wins of the season saw him score his maiden Dunlop Super2 Series round win, which in turn saw him open up 69 point lead over veteran and former winner Paul Dumbrell.
With three points paying rounds of the season remaining, the South Australian, driving for Matt Stone Racing, says he is keeping his feet firmly on the ground.
The series heads to Sydney Motorsport Park from August 18-20 followed by visits to Sandown in September before the November finale at Newcastle.
“I’m rapt to get that first round win, I have been trying pretty hard to do that for a few years,” said Hazelwood.
“You don’t try to think about it on race weekends because you have to just focus on the performance session by session.
“The championship will come together if you have the mindset, I believe. I haven’t won a championship for a long time so it is hard to know what that feels like.
“I have just got to keep my head down and keep working hard; what will be, will be.
“A championship is something that is very hard to put together and you need a lot of things to go your way.”
Hazelwood will now switch his focus to a maiden outing in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship courtesy of a wildcard run at the Coates Hire Ipswich Super Sprint later this month.
Despite having conducted hours of testing at Queensland Raceway with his locally based team, he is expecting a thorough challenge against Supercars’ elite.
“I will have my work cut out to prepare for that over the next couple of weeks to get ready for that,” he added.
“My team Matt Stone Racing and I have been working pretty hard to make sure that we go into that event and not disgrace ourselves.
“We are not expecting any miracles but we feel our car is pretty pacy there when we test with the guys Triple Eight and DJR Team Penske.
“Our pace was pretty relative but we have got to try the super soft tyre for the first time and the twin spring so we have got a lot to learn.
“Being my home track I know how it goes and it will be an exciting opportunity.”
The wildcard run will act as ideal preparation for his Pirtek Enduro Cup drive alongside Tim Blanchard in the #21 Brad Jones Racing Commodore.