SA Supercar drivers Tim Slade and Todd Hazelwood have best ever Adelaide 500 results

The 2019 Superloop Adelaide 500 was the best ever for two SA drivers who recorded top results to kickstart the Supercars season.

• McLaughlin opens title defence in stunning fashion
• Red Bull with work to do after Supercars humbling
• Mustang’s Waters the turnaround driver of the weekend

South Australian drivers Tim Slade and Todd Hazelwood had their best Adelaide 500 result ever, leaving them confident heading into the next round in Melbourne in two weeks.

Hazelwood said he “couldn’t be happier” with his day, in which he scored his best ever race finish (10th) and his first Top 10 Shootout qualifying appearance in Supercars, while Slade was “pretty happy” with his fourth place and pace that was achieved in the car.

Hazelwood, from Matt Stone Racing, was a popular hometown hero in the shootout, in which he qualified eighth and was later promoted to seventh when another driver was penalised, with the crowd cheering more for him as he started his lap than any other driver.

“To do that in front of a home crowd is quite special,” he said.

“It was quite a weird experience.

Todd Hazelwood (centre) celebrates his appearance in the Top 10 Shootout with his engineer Wes McDougall (left) and team owner Matt Stone (right). Picture: Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images

“Some people said (about the noise) ‘you would have thought I’d had won the race today’.

“The support here in the home town is overwhelming.

“It’s round one — but it’s a fantastic start.

“To finish in the top 10 is pretty special.”

He said he was “relieved” the weekend was over and he had finished it in one piece.

“We’ve had a fantastic weekend and banked some fantastic points to start the year.”

“I was really happy with my lap.”

Tim Slade from Freightliner Racing had his best Adelaide 500 result of fourth. Picture: AAP/David Mariuz

Slade, from Freightliner Racing, said his Saturday race was “terrible” and had struggled since the Tailem Bend round in August last year, so was pretty happy to take his fourth place on Sunday and did not mind about being one place from a podium finish.

“It was nice for things to fall our way with strategy and safety cars and a few others taking themselves out around me,” he said.

“We had enough pace to make what we wanted to do work.

“I’m working with a new engineer this year who was already in the team, and it’s nice to have someone look at it from a different set of eyes.

“It’s definitely a step in the right direction with the car set-up for races.”

His teammate Nick Percat finished fifth but rued not being able to have the pace of the top finishers from Shell V-Power Racing and Red Bull Holden Racing Team.

Scott Pye could not recover from a run-in early in the race and finished 17th.