News
Mawson hails ‘miracle’ effort from team
REIGNING Australian Drivers’ Champion Joey Mawson has hailed a ‘miracle’ effort from his team that allowed him to race in the all-important feature race at Symmons Plains last weekend.
Mawson and teammate Tim Slade clashed on the opening lap of race two at AWC Race Tasmania, the pair of Form 700 / ALABAR entries from Team BRM making contact at turn two following the start of the reverse-grid race.
The contact lifted Mawson’s car into the air; the breaking the left rear suspension, a front corner and damaging the front wing and rear floor of his Rogers AF01/V8 entry.
The tight AWC Race Tasmania schedule then saw his car stranded on the infield for the following Supercheap Auto TCR Australia race: BRM only getting the car back to their garage with less than 45 minutes to effect repairs before the final race commenced.
A herculean effort saw the team throw almost their entire resource at fixing Mawson’s car; replacing all the damaged elements and rolling out of pit exit five seconds before it closed – allowing Mawson to take his position on the third row of the grid for the feature race.
Despite the rapid repairs and the lack of time to complete a wheel alignment or setup, Mawson was able to salvage fourth place in the final race – setting a lap time 0.2 seconds off the best lap of the race in the process.
“I need to thank the boys at Team BRM for a massive effort and performing a miracle to get me back out,” the 2021 champion said.
“For a while it looked impossible to replace two corners and a floor in that amount of time but they made it happen to keep my championship hopes alive. It’s so important to score in every race, especially the features, so it was critical and they made it happen.
“I can’t express enough gratitude to them.”
Remarkably, the commencement of Mawson’s title defence begun in almost identical fashion as his maiden title-winning season in 2021.
Mawson qualified second, won the opening race and set a new outright Symmons Plains lap record and then scored fourth position in the finale’ in both AWC Race Tasmania events.
“It’s a bit of Deja vu for me at Symmons Plains with a victory in the opening race, a new outright lap record and fourth in the main race,” he said.
“This is a marathon, not a sprint, and it was amazing we got out for the final race at all.
“Thanks to my partners, Form 700, ALABAR and the team for their support and making this happen. I can’t wait for Round 2.”
The S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship resumes at the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit on March 18-20.