ZANE Goddard will return to Team BRM to contest at least the first two rounds of the 2023 S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship this year.

Goddard will make his third S5000 start when he reunites with the Adelaide-based team at AWC Race Tasmania this February 24-26 at Symmons Plains Raceway.

Goddard is locked in for at least the first two events, in Tasmania and at Phillip Island, with his continuation beyond that to be confirmed.

The 23-year-old Queenslander contested two rounds of last year’s championship, at Phillip Island and the Australian Grand Prix.

At Phillip Island he qualified sixth, rebounding from a challenging opening race to finish fourth and fifth in the next two races, respectively.

At Albert Park Goddard lined up on the third row of the grid in fifth and scored his first S5000 podium in race one, finishing third.

Goddard joins an increasingly competitive S5000 field for the Tasmanian opener with Aaron Cameron recently locked in at Team Valvoline GRM for a full season campaign.

Meanwhile, Versa Motorsport will field young guns Blake Purdie and Cooper Webster in Tasmania, the former in for the full season and the latter until his GB4 commitments kick off in Europe later this year.

More driver announcements will be made prior to the return to Symmons Plains in two weeks, a circuit where S5000s are the quickest ever holding both the qualifying and outright race lap records.

Improvements to both the cars and tyre this year are expected to see both benchmarks lowered even further this year.

Tickets to AWC Race Tasmania are on sale now via racetasmania.com.au

Zane Goddard

“I’m looking forward to getting back in to a car, I haven’t driven since Bathurst since last year so it’s been a while.

“I’m super pumped for Tassie: Having a little time away has made me really excited and I’m looking forward to racing again. I’m keen to team up with Team BRM who I’ve worked with for a long time.

“It’s going to be good fun, Tassie is a track I really like and when I was last there in the Supercars I qualified on the second row; it’s been a good place for me.

“There’s been a few little changes in the car since I last raced them and we’ll test at Tailem Bend to familiarise myself with that, but they seem like positive changes that are good for the category.”

Mark Rundle – Team BRM

“We’re really looking forward to working with Zane again this year, continuing our relationship that started in F4 and then moved into S5000.

“In two rounds last year he was up to speed quickly and showed at Albert Park, especially, that he is super competitive as we all know.

“We’re really confident Zane will roll out at Symmons Plains and be right at the front of the field as always.”