THE FINAL Round of the 2022 S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship will see four contenders head to the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown this weekend in contention – be it real or mathematical – for the 60th Gold Star title.

TRT has run the ruler across the four key contenders, reflecting on the pathway to get to this point, and their chances for Darwin success.

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JOEY MAWSON

THERE’S AN old saying that goes something like, ‘Form is temporary however class is permanent’. 

The problem for Joey Mawson’s S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship rivals this year is that he has had both in spades this year.

Though his season has not been without its setbacks, Mawson’s title defence has been well constructed by a combination of strong one-lap pace in qualifying, aggressive but measured race drives and a pair of key feature-race victories that helped build his title margin to what it is.

The defending champion and his Form 700 / ALABAR Team BRM entry leads Tim Macrow by 55 points head into the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown this week in his bid to be the first driver in two decades to claim back-to-back Gold Star titles.

Mawson has set the tone for his title defence in the first race at almost every round this year: he jumped from second to win the season opener in Tasmania, and then led from pole to win the first races at both Albert Park and Sydney Motorsport Park.

Those points gained in the first race of each round proved critical in ensuring he started at or near the the front in the feature race at each event, with the grid there determined by the points from races one and two at each round.

It’s a good thing, too, because Mawson’s reverse-grid races have been a challenge this year.

He was KO’d by his teammate in Tasmania in a bout of friendly fire, but then had a safe third in the reverse-grid race at Phillip Island.

10th in a shortened Grand Prix race two just gave him enough point to star the feature from pole, while race two at Sydney was probably his worst of the year.

After making a storming start, he swerved left across the circuit and into the path of Aaron Cameron, damaging his car and forcing Cameron out.

It was the only miscue of the season so far and a safe second – ironically behind Cameron – in the feature still made him the highest scorer of the weekend among the title contenders.

When he is in front, however, Mawson is very hard to beat. His five wins this season make him one of only two drivers to claim multiple victories this year and it is through those sheer weight of winning that has allowed him to build his title lead heading into the season finale’.

55 points is catchable, there’s no doubt, however the weight of the effort put in across the first four rounds has placed the reigning champion in almost the best possible position to ensure he holds on to his crown in 2022.

JOEY MAWSON

Standings: 1st (390 points)
2022 Races: 12
2022 Wins: 5
2022 Podiums: 8
Best Qualifying: 1st (Albert Park, Sydney Motorsport Park)

TIM MACROW

MEET S5000s Mr. Consistency. 

Using all of his considerable experience and race craft, Tim Macrow has used ruthless consistency and an ability to grab opportunities when they present to ensure he remains Joey Mawson’s closest rival for the 2022 S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship.

As such, he’ll head to the familiar bitumen of Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway for the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown this week 55 points behind the leader; half of the number of points up for grabs.

Macrow led the standings following Symmons Plains’ season opener, the friendly-fire between the BRM drivers giving him a clear path to start the feature race up front and his experience seeing him able to hold off a probably quicker Cooper Webster to take the win.

That came off the back of second in the reverse-grid race thanks to his entirely average qualifying performance of fifth that weekend.

And that’s not a commentary – it’s fact: Macrow has qualified fifth in three of the four rounds held so far. In the other one, he was sixth.

A second win in the reverse-grid race at Phillip Island was handy, though he lacked outright pace in the finale’ and missed the podium at his home circuit.

Results of fifth, fifth and third at the Grand Prix were handy and ensured he remained in the mix. Sydney, too, was solid with third in both heat races, however fifth place in the finale – by virtue of being turned around by Nathan Herne – was costly. Macrow was ropable following the contact, knowing how costly the points lost were as Mawson sat further up the road in second.

55 points is a catchable margin with S5000’s point score, however if the two-time Gold Star champion is going to add a third Australian Drivers’ Championship to his remarkable CV he will need to qualify better at Hidden Valley to do so.

One-lap pace has not been a strength of the UCS Group / Hollinger car this year; while Mawson has never missed the front row this season, Macrow has never made it beyond the third. In fact, Macrow has ceded 15 championship points to his Team BRM rival alone in qualifying this year.

A previous race winner at Hidden Valley in F3 competition, Macrow will hope that his prior knowledge of the charismatic circuit outside of Darwin helps him find the one lap pace that could help him claim a third Gold Star title this year.

TIM MACROW

Standings: 2nd (-55 Points)
2022 Races: 12
2022 Wins: 2
2022 Podiums: 6
Best Qualifying: 5th (Symmons Plains, Phillip Island, Sydney Motorsport Park)

JAMES GOLDING

THERE’S every chance James Golding and Team Valvoline GRM will look back at the Australian Grand Prix S5000 races as the reason why he wasn’t closer to Joey Mawson and Tim Macrow in the final battle for the 2022 S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship. 

As ever, the Victorian has been one of the fastest drivers in S5000 but that one hugely challenging weekend in Melbourne proved a massive set back to his title hopes.

As a result he enters the title decider at the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown next week 85 points behind the lead, with 110 up for grabs.

Golding qualified third in Melbourne and had the added support of strong teammates who had the potential to take points away from his nearest rivals – but it didn’t go to plan.

In the opening race, Golding went around the outside of teammate Aaron Cameron to take second at the first corner, but then ran wide at Turn 3 and lost several positions.

He then dropped to 12th with a big spin in the Turn 9/10 complex while trying to regain ground before eventually recovering to eighth.

The top 75% inversion of the grid then worked against Golding in Race two as he struggled to work his way through the field in what was ultimately a shortened race: he finished seventh before a solid fifth in the finale’ salvaged points.

However, out in front was S5000 arch-rival Mawson who scored pole and won two races to build a substantial title lead, while the ever consistent Macrow also out-scored the Valvoline driver.

Grand Prix aside, Golding’s 2022 season has been typically fast, with his pole position and race one victory at Phillip Island the undoubted highlight, while he chased Mawson all the way to the line in the finale’ at the fast Victorian circuit.

A strong recovery to third in the Sydney finale’ after a race one DNF was also a positive and while a maiden title looks a challenging prospect from that far back, Golding’s raw speed and experience in the S5000 platform will mean he’ll be trying until the final lap of the season to make it happen.

JAMES GOLDING

Standings: 3rd (-85 Points)
2022 Races: 12
2022 Wins: 1
2022 Podiums: 6
Best Qualifying: 1st (Symmons Plains, Phillip Island)

COOPER WEBSTER

BUILDING on his strong seventh place in the 2021 season, Melbourne teenager Cooper Webster has become a bone fide title contender in the 2022 S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship. 

Driving for the newly formed Versa Motorsport, Webster sits fourth in the championship heading into the final round at the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown next week (June 17-19) but mathematically remains in contention for his maiden title.

His task is a challenging one – he is 107 points behind leader Joey Mawson with 110 up for grabs across qualifying and the three races in Darwin – however his impressive season is worth documenting.

His season started strongly in Tasmania with fourth on the grid and second in the feature race, chasing Tim Macrow down throughout the race’s duration.

He then backed that up with a supremely consistent weekend at Phillip Island to qualify third and finish the three races in third, second and second, respectively, to hold second in the standings approaching the Grand Prix.

S5000’s strongest ever field presented a new challenge at Albert Park: Webster qualified eighth, gained two spots to finish sixth in race one and then made the most of the inverted race two grid finish third again.

Seventh in the finale’, however – behind several drivers not in the championship mix – proved costly from a points perspective.

A reverse-grid win in Sydney – the second of his S5000 career – ensured he remained in the hunt however a non-finish in the heavily weighted feature was a blow, making his title quest ever more challenging.

Regardless, 2022 has represented a breakout season for both Webster and the Versa Motorsport team, who have proven more than capable of challenging the series’ establishment in GRM, Tim Macrow Racing and Team BRM at any circuit.

A championship title may prove challenging this year, however a strong Darwin weekend could see the young Victorian score a top three finish for the season – proving his ‘star of the future’ credentials.

COOPER WEBSTER

Standings: 4th (-107 points)
2022 Races: 12
2022 Wins: 1
2022 Podiums: 6
Best Qualifying: 3rd (Phillip Island)