S5000, will it leave Australia

[stevo qld]

It seems to me that S5000 only continues with a considerable financial support from Barry Rogers and GRM.

Will Motorsport Australia continue to award the Gold Star to races with less than 10 starters?

After the poor numerical showing at the last round, we now have the news that the season is to be cut short, although a reason has been given.

The mid-year break after Darwin will allow for teams to plan ahead for both the Tasman Series and the 2023 S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship, which is in the early stages of calendar planning.

https://autoaction.com.au/2022/06/02/s5000-championship-to-end-in-darwin

GRM directly support three cars (out of 8 ) and, I suspect, have been doing very cheap lease deals and providing support for some of the relatively inexperienced drivers and overseas "Stars".

If, as Barry Rogers suggested, there is a possibility of selling the entire fleet of cars (17 or 18) and spares plus intellectual property to an overseas promoter, then poor utilisation of the cars and poor financial returns may result in a sale soon. One report suggested that an American Promoter is interested in buying.

I would suspect that GRM would keep one car back for their private museum.

[Sonic]

Would hope not but, as you noted, the poor uptake has been very disappointing for a class that has so much potential.

Perhaps Aussies are just not interested in the big open wheelers anymore? (And ignore the failure that was F4)

The FFords and FVees (in Vic at least) still have good grids every meeting so it's not as simple as saying it's an open wheeler thing.

[skaifeman]

I'd say Covid stunted any potential uptake it was making.

[meha]

Just out of interest what are the costs of running a S5000 car?

[Trevor]

Australia is just 'into' open wheel categories, there have been peaks and troughs in support