S5000 BREAKS TWO MINUTE BARRIER
As predicted the S5000 machines managed to lap under the two-minute barrier, Garry Rogers Motorsport driver Aaron Cameron setting a 1m 59.934s time, the only driver to sneak under the 120s marker to take pole position in qualifying.
As reported previously the S5000 machines are running less power this weekend as Motorsport Australia rules state that all racing cars must not exceed a power to weight limit of 2 kilograms per horsepower on FIA Grade 3 circuits.
Despite the 85 horsepower deficit reigning Australian Drivers’ champion Joey Mawson was only 0.8s away from the number in practice yesterday on old tyres.
Throughout qualifying everyone was improving lap after lap, but looked as though they would fall just short of the time, however in the dying seconds Tasman Series leader Cameron snuck into the one minute times and earnt himself pole position.
The time is the fastest official lap set by an open wheeler at the Mount Panorama (Jenson Button’s McLaren Formula 1 lap was not in an official session).
The time of Cameron’s is less than 0.7s of a second slower than the outright lap record set by Christopher Mies in an Audi R8 at Challenge Bathurst in 2018, a 1m 59.291.
In the session itself Cameron took pole by 0.15s from his teammate James Golding and Mawson.
Nathan Herne qualified fourth ahead of the returning John Martin, former F1 driver Roberto Merhi who has an early session off track excursion at Turn 1.
Tim Macrow, Luis Leeds, Blake Burdie and Jordan Boys rounded out the 10 qualifiers, with Japanese driver Yoshiaki Katayama set to return tomorrow after serving his 72 hours of isolation as an international arrival.
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