THE S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship has honoured Garry Rogers Motorsport’s contribution to the category with an official chassis name for the open-wheel cars.
Category stakeholders have elected to give all cars the ‘Rogers AF01/V8’ chassis name, with the AF standing for ‘Australian Formula’.
The initial run of 20 cars were built by GRM prior to the category’s debut in late 2019, utilising a chassis made specifically for S5000 by the French Ligier/Onroak company.
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GRM last year took a majority shareholding in S5000’s parent company the Australian Racing Group, furthering its commitment to the championship and its stablemate categories including TCR.
Barry Rogers, a GRM director and son of Garry, says it’s an honour to have the cars carry the Rogers name and is proud of the amount of Australian content in the cars.
“When you look back over the history of Australian motorsport, some of the most incredible stories come from the people who built and raced their own cars,” he said.
“It’s pretty special to add the Rogers name to that list with this new era for the Gold Star.
“People look at these cars and think that they are an international open-wheeler, but they are really a showcase for Aussie engineering and what our motorsport industry can do.
“Outside of the chassis and the engine sourced from the USA, everything has been done in Australia and that makes them a very unique racing car with enormous local input and skill behind it.”
Barry Rogers also paid respect to those who played a part in the category’s genesis, which took a number of twists and turns prior to its debut in late 2019.
“As much as GRM played a major role in bringing the S5000 concept to life, it’s important to acknowledge Chris Lambden and his vision to create a modern Formula 5000 race car and the original prototype work that Mike Borland and his team at Borland Racing Development tirelessly worked on,” he said.
“We also wouldn’t be in this position without the incredible influence and vision of Brian Boyd, who has been such a great supporter of the category and our sport in general.
“It’s going to be really special for Garry and especially our whole team, who have put in so much time and effort into producing these cars, when the field of cars sporting the name ‘Rogers’ rolls out of pit lane for the final round of this year’s championship in Sydney.”
The first full S5000 season comes to a close at Sydney Motorsport Park on May 1-2, with the 59th Australian Drivers’ Champion to be crowned.
