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Mawson takes first points of 2023 with narrow Tassie pole
JOEY MAWSON has kicked off his search for a Gold Star three-peat in the best possible way by scraping his way to pole position for the opening round of the S5000 Australian Drivers Championship at Symmons Plains.
Mawson’s 49.0615s flyer edged out old rival James Golding by 0.0530s – the second closest qualifying margin in S5000 history – to score 10 championship points.
It was his fifth career S5000 pole and first for the new 88Racing / Team BRM partnership
Golding scored five for second, while Roberto Merhi was a late climber as he jumped to third position with a last-ditch 49.2037s best.
Earlier, the Spaniard had brought out the red flag after bunkering his GRM entry at the Turn Four hairpin, however was able to recover and climb up the order to the second row.
Aaron Cameron was fourth, while Cooper Webster and impressive debutant Nic Carroll make up the third row.
Jordan Boys and Zane Goddard were seventh and eighth respectively, while Blake Purdie was searching for setup help as he qualified sixth -though only 0.63s from pole. Mark Rosser qualified 10th, just a second behind the Pro drivers as he continues to get up to speed.
The opening S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship race of the season commences at 2:15pm AEDT and will be broadcast live on Stan Sport and the Nine Network.