How the evolution of Hawkeswood’s driving landed a maiden title
The evolution of Jack Hawkeswood’s driving has been a hallmark of his success over the past couple of seasons, and it is no surprise the man sitting next to him has had a massive influence on that.
Hawkeswood wrapped up a maiden Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship last week in Whangarei.
It comes on the back of a fast but consistent approach, knowing when to push and take risks but also when to be conservative and play the long game.
Hawkeswood burst onto the scene with expectation from his surname alone – Dad Andrew was a long-time star of the sport and the 2017 national champion – and he had immense speed out of the gate.
But with that came some mistakes that plagued the early part of his career.
“I actually talked about that on the Sunday night after the celebrations with a little bit of speech and I actually said it was a bit of a hard decision to sit in the car with Jack to start with,” co-driver Jason Farmer told BB and Budgie’s Thursday Night Recce, which aired on Thursday night.
“Knowing the Hawkeswood history. Looking back at what this young fellow’s done to a few cars over the years and especially what his old man had done to a few cars previously as well.
“But from the very first Otago Rally I sat with Jack; I was actually blown away with how mature he was in the car.
“From the outside it looked flamboyant and everything like that, but sitting with him is such a calm demeanour in the car and especially this year he’s just really got the handle of the GR Yaris Rally2 And I think he’s really taken in the importance of studying the rallies, studying the stages before an event and especially when it comes to pace noting – the importance of sitting down and going through pace notes, checking them before an event, sitting down, studying them, studying your in-car and stuff like that.
“And the maturity and just the professionalism and the effort Jack’s put in has really been awesome. Just to see the change from when I first sat with him and just as it’s increased and how we’ve started working together as a team.”
Haweswood and Farmer secured the 2026 title with a round to spare and now have three victories on the season and four together overall.
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