Cameron Hill arrives at Hidden Valley Raceway for the fifth event on the Repco Supercars Championship calendar in a positive frame of mind.
At the previous round in Perth, Hill made his third top 10 appearance in qualifying for the season and finished 11th in both races capping off a superb recovery after a mechanical problem sent him into the wall in practice.
Heading to Indigenous round featuring a new livery on his Matt Stone Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and a new primary partner in betting agency Dabble.
The annual trip to the Top End has been fruitful in the past for Hill as he secured his maiden Porsche Carrera Cup Australia success there and enjoyed a solid round there last year, while then-teammate Jack Le Brocq took the squad’s first Repco Supercars Championship race win.
As the Repco Supercars Championship acknowledges the Indigenous history of this country in Darwin, Hill’s Dabble Camaro will feature a livery named 'Hands and Water' by Billy-Jay O’Toole from Wadawurrung country near Geelong in Victoria.
The focal point of the fresh appearance is the colour purple, which will ensure Hill will be hard to miss as fans will be able to get a closer look on the Track to Town prior to the event into Darwin.
Replicating his early weekend pace will be of top priority for Hill at Hidden Valley due to practice leading into qualifying on Friday, before a Top 10 Shootout and Race 11 on Saturday. To cap off the weekend, qualifying, another Top 10 Shootout and Race 12 follow on Sunday.
QUOTES
Cameron Hill
#4 Dabble Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
“I really like Darwin,” Hill said.
“It’s a really good event. The crowd is really engaging and I had my first Porsche Carrera Cup Australia race win up there.
“It was a solid outing for me last year. When I reflect back on it I was still super green and we had good pace as Jack (Le Brocq) won a race, which was a good boost for the team. It was the start of believing Matt Stone Racing can be at the front and I think we’ve carried it on ever since.
“Perth was a good weekend. The good thing was the qualifying speed was strong in Perth and it was a game of thousandths, but we stack up pretty well.
“I think Darwin will be pretty similar, it’s a short lap and I have a lot of confidence in our package at the moment as I’ve been pretty strong everywhere we’ve been.
“Last year I felt we always had a strong race car, but if you don’t qualify at the front it’s not always possible to demonstrate it. When we can qualify well it enables us to use our race pace and that’s definitely a strong part of our game.
“At every round this season so far, I feel like I’ve gone better than I did previously.
“We’ve got a great group of partners this year and in a way the model we’ve used is cool all because we keep turning up in new colours, with our sponsors receiving some time in the sun. I think it’s been a really cool way of doing things.
“The Track to Town we did in Taupo was really cool and I’m looking forward to doing it at Darwin. It is such a great way for the fans to get so close to a Supercar. It’s an opportunity to escape the Canberra winter - I love it there, but the winter can be rough.
“I feel like where we are at is super positive. There's a belief that we have good cars and can achieve good results, while the new liveries keep everything fresh. I’m excited to see how it looks on track.”
SCHEDULE
Friday, June 14
Practice 1 11:35am ACST/12:05pm AEST
Qualifying Race 11 2:35pm ACST/3:05pm AEST
Saturday, June 15
Practice 2 9:35am ACST/10:05am AEST
Top 10 Shootout Race 11 11:35am ACST/12:05pm AEST
Race 11 3:10pm ACST/3:40pm AEST
Sunday, June 16
Qualifying Race 12 10:25am ACST/10:55am AEST
Top 10 Shootout Race 12 11:35am ACST/12:05pm AEST
Race 12 3:10pm ACST/3:40pm AEST
