S5000 announces four-round summer schedule for 2021 return
The 2021 S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship will be held over a four round calendar with races monthly from January to April next year.
The Australian Racing Group (ARG) has announced that the 2021 series will start at Symmons Plains on the Australia Day weekend, before events at Philip Island and Sydney Motorsport Park.
The venue and date for the March round “will be confirmed in due course” - but coincides with the 2021 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park.
The 2020 S5000 season was due to begin at the Grand Prix before its high-profile cancellation due to one of the first COVID-19 cases recorded in Australia.
“After the frustration of last March’s Grand Prix cancellation, where S5000 was poised to make a serious statement, and the extended COVID-19 shut-down since, it really is exciting to confirm the re-launch of the S5000 Australian Drivers Championship (Gold Star) series, across the upcoming summer,” said category manager Chris Lambden.
The 2021 S5000 Australian Drivers Championship will see the winner claim the Motorsport Australia Gold Star award – the first time that the prize will be appear since 2014.
Demonstration runs are planned as part of the Race Tasmania events at Baskerville Raceway in January.
The Symmons Plains, Phillip Island, and Sydney Motorsport Park events will be screened live and free on the Seven Network.
The exclusion of the March event from the broadcast list lends credence to the theory that the third round will be contested as an F1 support series.
The entire Grand Prix event, include support categories, is covered by broadcast rights owned by Network 10.
Series promoters ARG also confirmed that S5000 will continue as a ‘summer’ series - with the schedule for a 2021/22 series to be released later this year.
It is expected that series will commence at Sandown in September and include a visit to Mount Panorama for a championship round contested as part of the Bathurst International event, before concluding in April.
“It was always my view that S5000 should avoid the downsides of racing across winter in the southern states, and that’s exactly what we will now be doing,” said Lambden.
“This series, slimmed back to four championship rounds in four months due to the delayed start and aimed at keeping series entrant costs down while the country gets back on its feet, will decide the first S5000 Gold Star Champion.”
“We will then take a winter ‘off-season’ break and kick off a full 6 or 7 round 2021/22 championship in September, at Sandown, running through to April again.”
“Firming up the calendar allows our existing, and new, competitors the certainty they need to prepare well for the first Gold Star Championship for several years. The four rounds are at four of the very best race tracks in the country, and S5000 will provide a spectacular contest. There are some strong combinations coming together, and so, at last, we will be able to put on the show that was so close to kicking off last March.
“In these still tricky times, with team economics likely being stressed for a little while yet, S5000 offers up-and-coming drivers what was intended from the start – the fastest and most spectacular race cars in the country, but at race budget levels way below many other national racing formulae. The grid is taking shape again, teams will be starting pre-season testing shortly, and we’re ready to provide real motorsport fans with something spectacular over the summer. It’s just so good to be able to go racing again…”
2021 S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship calendar
1 Symmons Plains Raceway, January 24-26
2 Phillip Island, February TBA
3 Venue TBA, March TBA
4 Sydney Motorsport Park, April 30-May 2
