Mawson suspended due to fitness supplement investigation

Joey Mawson has been suspended and will not race at the upcoming S5000 Sydney round after an investigation into a fitness supplement has surfaced.

Mawson currently leads the S5000 title race by 77 points having won eight of the 10 races so far in 2023.

However, the #1 will not be seen at Sydney Motorsport Park which will be the fourth round of the season as a Supercars support round on July 28-30.

Auto Action received the following statement on the news…

Double Gold Star champion, and points leader to date in 2023, Joey Mawson will be missing from the grid when Team 88 heads to Sydney Motorsport Park next week for the fourth round of the 2023 S5000 Gold Star Championship series.

A routine test at the Phillip Island round of the series has raised questions concerning a general fitness supplement the Sydneysider utilised  for the first time, for a short period, for his general running/gym fitness training over the extended break between the opening event in February and Phillip Island in May.

Under the relevant regulations, Mawson has been provisionally suspended until the situation is clarified by Sports Integrity Australia and Motorsport Australia.

Joey was shattered when officials advised him of the initial test outcome and is co-operating fully with the investigation.

Team88 owner Albert Callegher, who stepped in to offer Mawson a 2023 S5000 drive after his double championship-winning sponsors were forced to step back due to post-Covid corporate challenges, says the team is fully behind Joey.

“Everyone who knows Joey is as stunned as he is,” he said.

“He’s one of the sport’s good-guys and there’s no way he would ever knowingly be involved in anything of that kind.

“It’s one of those ‘silly mistake’ things that you read about occasionally, certainly with no relevance or benefit to his driving a race car. We hope the various authorities involved in the process do approach it in that light.

“Added to the stress of Supercars’ ongoing refusal to accept his Superlicence status and thus his inability to date to accept an offered co-drive this year, it’s a frustrating and difficult time for Joey.

“We do ask that his privacy be respected while this is resolved.
“The team is fully behind and supportive of Joey and we look forward to him ge\ng back to the track and into the car as soon as possible.”

Team88 will contest next week’s championship round with a stand-in driver in the familiar
white car. An announcement on this will follow.

For more of the latest motorsport news, pick up the latest issue of AUTO ACTION.

Auto Action, Australia’s independent voice of motorsport.

PODCAST: The latest episode of the Auto Action RevLimiter podcast is out now!

This week we look at Brodie Kostecki going to NASCAR (is Supercars no longer a destination class?) and continue with the chat around Supercars Parirty as a test day is washed out, again. Targa Tasmania has been shut down, and S5000s are running a “demonstration” – not a race – at the Bathurst International.

Listen on your podcast app of choice or here on the Auto Action RevLimiter podcast.