AARON Cameron didn’t enter the reborn Tasman Series expecting his name to sit alongside legends of global motorsport such as Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart and Bruce McLaren.
Instead, he is its champion – albeit in unusual circumstances.
Cameron claimed the title despite his involvement in a massive crash at the Chase with Luis Leeds during the fourth and final race at Mount Panorama that resulted in the race being red-flagged and the result wound back to count only three of the scheduled 11 laps.
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This meant that the race was declared a ‘no race’ and therefore guaranteed the championship to Cameron, who led the points ahead of the final race, despite a badly damaged S5000 car.
Although Stewards found neither he nor Leeds were predominantly to blame for the race-ending incident, Cameron copped a 15-point penalty for tangling with teammate Nathan Herne earlier in the race, a sanction that didn’t change the series outcome.
Despite the dramatic Race 4, Cameron said that it was still an awesome moment to join such an exclusive list of drivers to have won the Tasman Series trophy.
“It was unexpected coming into the Tasman Series, we were just coming to score top fives,” Cameron told V8 Sleuth.
“Somehow from Round 1 we ended up leading the championship and then we were strong here again.
“It’s not exactly the way we wanted to finish the series, but at the same time, to get the Tasman Cup, it’s bloody awesome.”
All three Garry Rogers Motorsport cars performed well over the weekend scoring a 1-2-3 result for the Mount round at Mount Panorama, with James Golding claiming the round win.
“GRM have built the cars and they helped develop them,” he said.
“We didn’t get to win the Australian Drivers Championship so to win the Tasman Cup for the first time since it has been invigorated is absolutely awesome.
“They have been a great support; it’s a credit to Nathan [Herne] and Jimmy (Golding] for helping me to get up to speed in the category as well.”
The S5000 category’s debut at Mount Panorama was marred by crashes, with both Race 3 and Race 4 red-flagged for spectacular incidents at the Chase.
Sunday’s incident began when Cameron and Leeds ran side-by-side through the kink and the latter’s right-front tyre made contact with the former’s left-rear, sending both spinning wildly into the sand trap with Cameron’s car riding along the concrete barrier before coming to a rest.
Cameron was taken to the medical centre to be checked and said that he was feeling okay after the incident.
“These cars are all carbon fibre monocoques so we are super safe in the cars so I have never had a concern for my safety, so yeah, I’m all good,” he said.
“I’ve got a couple of bruises but other than that, we are ready to fight another day.”
