AUSTRALIAN Racing Group supremo Barry Rogers is hopeful that S5000 can be revived as soon as this year, following the rollout of a revised Superlicence system.
Rogers had pinned blame on Supercars’ prohibitive entry barriers as a major factor in S5000’s downfall, with Super2 previously being more or less the exclusive pathway into the main game.
That is no longer the case.
“Whether S5000, if we can relaunch that on the back of this in time, who knows,” Rogers told V8 Sleuth.
“A full-time Supercars gig is certainly the holy grail, but – similar to young jockeys growing up wanting to ride in the Melbourne Cup one day – I think most kids running around in a go-kart, they’re dreaming about one day racing in the Bathurst 1000.
“I think this change keeps that dream alive for a lot more than it did prior to the change, so we’ll see what happens.”
While the opening round of the Shannons SpeedSeries unfolds this weekend at Sandown, there is yet to be any sign of a 2024 S5000 calendar.
But contrary to the prospect once raised of selling off the S5000 fleet overseas, the plan is to relaunch the Australian open-wheel category when possible.
“Sure we’re biased, but when you get a reasonable field of those cars out there lined up, they are a great spectacle,” said Rogers.
“They’re something that nothing else in Australian motorsport does.
“We have got any number of tin top categories, V8 categories, whatever else, but they are a one-off, they provide something for the drivers.
“Really in simple terms they are a high-powered Formula Ford, so they are a driver’s car. It’s about the driver and we’d like to think that there is a future for them, but we’ll assess that now.
“Obviously nothing is going to happen in the first half of the year; whether we can do a relaunch in the second half of the year and find space in the calendar to get them out there, we’ll see.
“But to be honest, Garry (Rogers) is the first one that is embarrassed when we go out and race with 10 cars on the grid.
“If we can’t comfortably see that there is going to be 15 or 16 cars out there, they won’t be out there, so we’ll just see what the interest levels are.
“For the good of the sport, we would just like to see them out there, I think the fans would like to see them out there, so we’ll see.”
