Aaron Cameron wins dramatic S5000 Sydney feature race
Aaron Cameron claimed victory in a dramatic S5000 Australian Drivers Championship feature race to round out the weekend in Sydney.
Cameron bested championship leader Joey Mawson in a late-race battle for third, which became the lead when Nathan Herne was penalised for contact with Tim Macrow.
"Happy days!" said Cameron.
"We had such a good Saturday in both cars, and then Sunday just started off terribly."
"I did a terrible job in TCR and then in S5000 we had the crash with Joey, so to come out [and win]."
"I got a bad start, had to come through the field, and some really good clean passes."
"I made it hard for myself, had to pass Joey twice."
"To win that feature race is awesome, and I can't thank Barry and GRM enough to have me back."
Aaron Cameron celebrates his feature race victory in Sydney. (Highway F1)
Earlier on Saturday Cooper Webster took a lights-to-flag victory in the reverse grid second race, with the race dominated by contact between Mawson and Cameron off the line.
Mawson had a huge speed advantage at the start and was searching for a way through the field off the line, collecting Cameron and sending him out of the race with a broken front right corner.
Team GRM worked to have Cameron's car ready for the feature race just two hours later, with Mawson and Cameron to feature as protagonists once again.
Mawson started on pole but it was Tim Macrow alongside him on the front row who had the best start, leading through turn one.
Nathan Herne passed Mawson on lap two and went after Macrow for the race lead, putting himself into the position for a pass on lap three.
Herne dived down the inside and the pair collided, with Macrow spinning out from the lead.
Behind them, Aaron Cameron was up from fifth to fourth behind Joey Mawson in a tight contest, which became a battle for the lead with Macrow out of contention and Herne penalised for the contact.
Cameron sailed past Mawson on lap six but ran wide at turn four, gifting the position back to the standings leader.
He made the decisive move a lap later, passing Mawson for a final time and jetting ahead to the chequered flag.
Aaron Cameron, Joey Mawson and James Golding on the podium in Sydney. (Highway F1)
Cameron said his work with Team GRM engineers in experimenting with the S5000 setup had paid dividends for his race weekend.
"It's just been really fast all weekend, we've been able to follow people really closely and relatively easily, with not too much aero wash, where in the past you really can't get too close to people before it gets too much understeer."
"Credit to the boys, they've just done such a good job to give me a fast car and I'm happy I can actually repay them and win the race."
Mawson was second and holds his lead of the standings by 55 points ahead of Macrow, with James Golding moving up to third after completing the podium.
The S5000 Australian Drivers Championship returns 17-19 June in Darwin.
