IT TAKES SOME BALLS TO DRIVE IT-DRIVERS REACT TO S5000 TEST

MEDIA RELEASE/Australian S5000 Championship – Photo: supplied (Will Brown S5000 entry)

All attention has turned to Sandown after an action-packed S5000 test day at Phillip Island today.

Thirteen of the brand-new cars rolled out this morning for a full day session, with some of the cars having never seen a race track before.

The drivers, including experienced open wheel drivers like Formula 1 legend Rubens Barrichello and Indy 500 racer Matthew Brabham, were in awe of the new V8-powered cars. Brabham said that it “takes some balls” to drive them, while Barrichello, 47, claimed that the cars made him “feel like a young man” again.

The day was hampered by two incidents for Barton Mawer and Tom Alexander – both occurring early in the day’s running. Mawer made heavy contact with the wall opposite pit straight. The car was sent back to the Garry Rogers Motorsport workshop where it is being assessed ahead of Sandown. Alexander’s incident was light contact with the tyre barrier and he will be on the track this weekend.

No official lap times were recorded, although the pace setters were John Martin (AGI Sport) and Tim Macrow (MTEC Motorsport), both reporting lap times in the low 1 minute 24 second bracket.

GRM Supercars driver James Golding was also on hand at the test. He drove one of the spare cars at the test. 

Teams will unload their cars at Sandown tomorrow with practice kicking off on Friday, September 20, followed by qualifying and racing on Saturday and Sunday.

Tickets can be pre-purchased or bought at the gate, and for those unable to make it to Sandown for the historic first event, the races will be broadcast live, free and in HD on SBS, or via the Shannons Nationals live stream available on Velocity Magazines website and Facebook page.

SUBSCRIBE TO VELOCITY MAGAZINE 

For all our news keep your eyes peeled on the Velocity Magazine website and social media, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for our daily updates and to get the latest edition of our glossy magazine subscribe here from just $55 for 12 months subscription.

GET OUR LATEST ISSUE NUMBER 33 HERE