The 2021 S5000 Australian Drivers' Championship, known by its sponsored identity the VHT S5000 Australian Drivers' Championship, was the inaugural season of the Australian S5000 Championship, run after a series of exhibition races in 2019.[1] The series was sanctioned by Motorsport Australia (MA) and promoted by the Australian Racing Group as part of the 2020 and 2021 Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Series. The season was held over 4 rounds, it began in January at Symmons Plains Raceway and ended in May at Sydney Motorsport Park. Joey Mawson won the Australian Drivers' Championship (MA Gold Star) title.

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers were under contract to compete in the 2021 championship:

Team No. Drivers Rounds Ref.
Team BRM 15 New Zealand Kaleb Ngatoa 2–4 [2]
16 Australia Tommy Smith 1 [3]
27 Australia Joey Mawson All [4]
49 Australia Thomas Randle All[lower-alpha 1] [5]
Tim Macrow Racing 23 Australia Tim Macrow All[lower-alpha 1] [6]
Garry Rogers Motorsport 29 Australia Nathan Herne All [7]
31 Australia James Golding All[lower-alpha 1] [8]
96 Australia Luis Leeds All[lower-alpha 1] [8]
Astuti Motorsport 39 Australia Antonio Astuti 1–3[lower-alpha 2] [5]
Australian Racing Enterprise 88 Australia Cooper Webster All [5]
Willmington Motorsport 89 Australia Braydan Willmington All[lower-alpha 1] [5]
Modena Engineering 92 Australia Ricky Capo All[lower-alpha 1] [9]

The following drivers only competed in practice and/or qualifying for the abandoned March 2020 round at Melbourne:

Team No. Drivers Ref.
Team BRM 16 United Kingdom Jack Aitken [10]
33 Australia James Davison [11]
93 Australia Zane Goddard [12]
111 Brazil Rubens Barrichello [13]
Milldun Motorsport 27 Australia Barton Mawer [14]
Garry Rogers Motorsport 34 France Alexandre Prémat [15]
Borland Racing Developments 38 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella [16]
88Racing 88 New Zealand Jordan Michels [17]

Race calendar

The original 2020 calendar proposal was released on 29 October 2019, with six confirmed rounds, plus one non-championship round at the "Bathurst International", all held in Australia. Qualifying was held during the opening round at Melbourne, but the event was abandoned on March 13, 2020, as the headlining Australian Grand Prix had been cancelled by Formula 1 because of McLaren's withdrawal after a team member was tested positive for COVID-19.[18]

With multiple disruptions delaying the season start due to the COVID-19 pandemic, heavy border restrictions in Australia further complicating the holding of the championship,[19][20] and various calendar revisions that did not went ahead as scheduled,[21][22][23][24] the season started in January 2021, with a four-round calendar where one venue was still to be announced.[25][26] It included a round at Symmons Plains, which was not featured in the calendar until the May 2020 revision. Rounds at Winton and The Bend were not rescheduled, while the rounds at Melbourne and Bathurst were set apart from the calendar due to their later dates as support events for the Australian Grand Prix and the inaugural Bathurst International,[27] being later featured as part of the end-of-year S5000 Tasman Series. The round at Phillip Island was later postponed and rescheduled.[28][29] On 16 February 2021 it was announced the third round would be held at Sandown.[30] As had been planned for 2020, the winner of each feature race received a trophy named in honour of former Australian racing drivers.[31]

Round Circuit Feature Race Location Date
1 Tasmania Symmons Plains Raceway John McCormack Cup[31] Launceston, Tasmania 25–26 January[lower-alpha 3]
2 Victoria (state) Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit Costanzo Cup[32] Phillip Island, Victoria 13–14 March[lower-alpha 4]
3 Victoria (state) Sandown Raceway John Bowe Trophy[33] Springvale, Victoria 21 March[lower-alpha 5]
4 New South Wales Sydney Motorsport Park Warwick Brown Cup[34] Eastern Creek, New South Wales 1–2 May[lower-alpha 6]

The following racetracks were included at some point on the 2020 calendar, but were not rescheduled for the 2021 Australian Drivers' Championship.

Circuit Location Scheduled dates
Victoria (state) Albert Park Circuit Melbourne, Victoria 12–15 March 2020[lower-alpha 7]
Victoria (state) Winton Motor Raceway Benalla, Victoria 1–3 May 2020
South Australia The Bend Motorsport Park Tailem Bend, South Australia 12–14 June 2020
New South Wales Mount Panorama Circuit Bathurst, New South Wales 13–15 November 2020[lower-alpha 8]

S5000 Tasman Series

See: 2021 S5000 Tasman Series

The follow-up season, initially billed as the 2021–2022 S5000 Australian Drivers Championship, was planned to feature the inaugural holding of the S5000 International Triple Crown, a stand-alone series-within-the-series consisting of the three events held in Melbourne, Bathurst and Gold Coast, supporting the Australian Grand Prix, the Bathurst International and the Gold Coast 500 respectively. After the cancellation of the 2021 Australian Grand Prix, it was decided to instead revive the Tasman Series with the remaining 2021 rounds, separate from the S5000 Australian Drivers Championship that will be held in 2022.

Race results

Round Circuit Date Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning entrant
1 H1 Tasmania Symmons Plains Raceway 25 January Australia Thomas Randle Australia Thomas Randle Australia Joey Mawson Team BRM
H2 26 January Australia Joey Mawson Australia Tim Macrow Macrow Racing
ME Australia Thomas Randle Australia Thomas Randle Team BRM
2 H1 Victoria (state) Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit 13 March Australia James Golding Australia Joey Mawson Australia Tim Macrow Macrow Racing
H2 Australia Thomas Randle Australia Cooper Webster Australian Racing Enterprise
ME 14 March Australia Joey Mawson Australia Joey Mawson Team BRM
3 H1 Victoria (state) Sandown Raceway 20 March Australia Joey Mawson Australia Joey Mawson Australia James Golding Garry Rogers Motorsport
H2 21 March New Zealand Kaleb Ngatoa New Zealand Kaleb Ngatoa Team BRM
ME Australia Joey Mawson Australia Joey Mawson Team BRM
4 H1 New South Wales Sydney Motorsport Park 1 May Australia Joey Mawson Australia James Golding Australia James Golding Garry Rogers Motorsport
H2 Australia Cooper Webster New Zealand Kaleb Ngatoa Team BRM
ME 2 May Australia James Golding Australia James Golding Garry Rogers Motorsport

Drivers' standings

At each meeting, a qualifying session, two qualifying heats and a Main Event were held. Meeting points were awarded to the fastest ten qualifiers in qualifying, where the grid for the first heat was set. For the second heat, the top 75% from qualifying were reversed. The grid for the Main Event was defined by the points earned by the drivers across the weekend.[35]

Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th Ret
Qualifying 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0
Qualifying Heats 30 27 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 1 0
Main Event 60 50 40 32 26 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 0
Pos. Driver SYM PHI SAN SYD Points
Q H1 H2 ME Q H1 H2 ME Q H1 H2 ME Q H1 H2 ME
1 Australia Joey Mawson 2 1 4 4 10 5 3 1 1 5 2 1 1 2 5 8 392
2 Australia Thomas Randle 1 2 6 1 3 2 2 4 3 DNS 3 6 6 5 3 4 346
3 Australia Tim Macrow 7 5 1 2 2 1 5 3 5 4 7 5 5 6 2 5 339
4 Australia James Golding 3 3 5 Ret 1 4 6 2 2 1 Ret 4 2 1 4 1 329
5 Australia Luis Leeds 6 6 2 7 5 6 7 5 6 6 6 3 4 3 7 2 307
6 Australia Nathan Herne 4 Ret 3 3 4 3 4 Ret 4 2 4 2 3 4 6 3 304
7 Australia Cooper Webster 8 8 7 6 7 8 1 6 7 Ret 8 7 9 8 8 6 209
8 Australia Ricky Capo 5 4 8 5 6 7 DNS 7 9 7 5 9 7 Ret 10 Ret 173
9 New Zealand Kaleb Ngatoa 8 10 Ret 8 8 3 1 DNS 8 7 1 7 149
10 Australia Braydan Willmington 11 10 10 9 9 DNS 8 10 11 8 10 10 10 9 9 9 148
11 Australia Antonio Astuti 10 9 9 8 11 9 9 9 10 9 9 8 128
12 Australia Tommy Smith 9 7 Ret DNS 18
Pos. Driver SYM PHI SAN SYD Points

! style="vertical-align:middle" |Pos. ! style="vertical-align:middle;background" |Driver ! colspan="4" |SYM ! colspan="4" |PHI ! colspan="4" |SAN ! colspan="4" |SYD ! style="vertical-align:middle" |Points |}

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Competed in the abandoned March 2020 event at Melbourne.
  2. ↑ Competed in the abandoned March 2020 event at Melbourne with Tim Macrow Racing.
  3. ↑ Not included in the original 2020 calendar; scheduled as part of the May 2020 calendar revision
  4. ↑ Originally due to take place on 23 August 2020; then scheduled for October 2020 and later postponed without a date before being rescheduled.
  5. ↑ Originally due to take place on 13 September 2020, it was initially cancelled before being rescheduled.
  6. ↑ Originally due to take place on 29 March 2020, it was subsequently rescheduled for 16 August 2020 and 6 September 2020, and then cancelled before being rescheduled.
  7. ↑ Qualifying was held on 12 March 2020; the event was abandoned on 13 March 2020.
  8. ↑ Originally scheduled as a non-championship round, it became a points event in the May 2020 revision.

References

  1. ↑ "2020 Australian S5000 Championship calendar revealed". s5000.com.au. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  2. ↑ "Fast Kiwi set for S5000 debut pending lockdown delays". S5000.au. 5 March 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  3. ↑ "Tommy Smith reveals livery ahead of S5000 debut". 20 January 2021.
  4. ↑ "AUSSIE INTERNATIONAL MAWSON COMPLETES S5000 GRID FOR SYMMONS PLAINS". 20 January 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Drivers". S5000. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
  6. ↑ "TIM MACROW CONFIRMED IN GROWING S5000 GRID". 11 December 2020.
  7. ↑ "NATHAN HERNE TO RACE S5000 AND TRANS AM IN 2021". 3 December 2020.
  8. 1 2 "GRM CONFIRMS TWO DRIVERS FOR 2021 GOLD STAR EFFORT". 27 November 2020. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  9. ↑ "RICKY CAPO CONFIRMS DRIVE IN 2021 S5000 AUSTRALIAN DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP". 2 December 2020.
  10. ↑ "Williams Formula 1 test driver to race in S5000 at AGP". 4 March 2020.
  11. ↑ "James Davison to race in S5000 at Albert Park". 19 February 2020.
  12. ↑ "Goddard adds S5000 to 2020 Supercars program". 10 February 2020.
  13. ↑ "Rubens Barrichello confirms S5000 start for Australian Grand Prix and Bathurst International". 13 February 2020.
  14. ↑ "Fifteen car grid set for historic opening S5000 Championship round". 6 March 2020.
  15. ↑ "Reigning Bathurst 1000 winner secures S5000 start at AGP". 17 February 2020.
  16. ↑ "Fisichella joins S5000 grid for Australian GP". 2 March 2020.
  17. ↑ "88Racing launches its 2020 challenger". 11 March 2020.
  18. ↑ "Australian Grand Prix cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic - S5000". 12 March 2020. Retrieved 2020-03-13.
  19. ↑ "S5000 round at Sydney Motorsport Park postponed - S5000". 18 March 2020. Retrieved 2020-03-18.
  20. ↑ "Update on 2020 Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships - S5000". 8 April 2020. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  21. ↑ "S5000 to race in August as part of five-round season return". Highway F1. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  22. ↑ "SYDNEY DATE SWITCH FOR SHANNONS OPENER". 10 July 2020. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  23. ↑ "Further revisions to Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships calendar". S5000. 2020-07-31. Retrieved 2020-08-14.
  24. ↑ "Bathurst International debut postponed until 2021 - Bathurst International". Bathurst International. 2020-10-06. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
  25. ↑ "S5000 announces four-round summer schedule for 2021 return". Highway F1. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  26. ↑ "TWO AND FOUR WHEELS JOIN TOGETHER AT PHILLIP ISLAND IN FEBRUARY". 23 November 2020. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  27. ↑ "Date confirmed for the inaugural Bathurst International at Mount Panorama". S5000. 2021-02-18. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  28. ↑ "Phillip Island TCR/S5000 round postponed". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  29. ↑ "NEW PHILLIP ISLAND DATE LOCKED IN FOR MARCH". Australian Racing Group. 16 February 2021.
  30. ↑ "SANDOWN ADDED TO 2021 S5000 CALENDAR". 16 February 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  31. 1 2 McCarthy, Dan (17 December 2020). "McCormack Cup to be Awarded in S5000". Auto Action. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  32. ↑ McAlpine, Heath (10 February 2021). "Costanzo Cup to be Awarded at Phillip Island". Auto Action. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  33. ↑ McAlpine, Heath. "John Bowe Trophy to be Awarded at Sandown". Auto Action. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  34. ↑ "Warwick Brown Cup for the taking in S5000 finale". Speedcafe. 15 April 2021.
  35. ↑ "2020 S5000 Australia Series Sporting and Technical Regulations" (PDF). 2020-06-06. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-06-06. Retrieved 2021-01-25.

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See also

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