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Willmington using S5000 to secure Indy 500 dream
Braydan Willmington has revealed that his surprise start in S5000 is a way to look towards an international open wheel career.
Willmington, the son of former touring car privateer stalwart Garry, spent the majority of his junior racing days on the speedway ovals, racing both in Australia and in the United States in a variety of different classes.
The now 22 year old and his family-run team has secured an S5000 for the inaugural 2020 championship, and he says that joining the big banger open wheel class is being used as an opportunity to see if he can live out a childhood dfream.
“My goal has always been IndyCar. I would love to run the Indy 500,” said Willmington.
“I always thought that speedway would be a pathway, being on the ovals. It’s the same route that Tony Stewart, Ed Carpenter, Bryan Clauson took, and that was the idea that I had.
“I saw the old Formula 5000s at the Australian Grand Prix back in 2011, and I fell in love with the cars there. S5000 is the modern version of that and they are really cool.”
While worlds apart, Willmington says that there are similarities between his new and old racing worlds.
“These are the coolest cars that I’ve ever driven,” said Willmington.
“They are similar to a sprintcar. Well, they have similarities, but then they have some ridiculous differences! They are both very high commitment cars, but the S5000s are amazing.”
Willmington is working towards competing back the full Australian S5000 Championship next year, kicking off as one of the featured support categories at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park on March 12-15.
For more on Willmington, see the video below.