European Le Mans Series race winner joins S5000 grid

European Le Mans Series race winner Ricky Capo is the latest driver to secure a spot on the grid for the inaugural S5000 round.

The 23-year-old will pilot a privately run S5000 chassis for this weekend’s landmark meeting for the new open wheel formula at Sandown.

Capo becomes the 11th driver confirmed on the grid which is headed by multiple Formula 1 race winner Rubens Barrichello.

The young Aussie has already experienced S5000 machinery having taken part in a test at Phillip Island last month which was followed by an outing at Sydney Motorsport park only last week.

Capo is no stranger to open wheel racing, having competed in the Australian Formula 3, while he also won the ELMS LMP3 class at the 4 Hours of Monza in 2017.

“I got to do a few more laps at Sydney Motorsport Park and really started to become more comfortable and confident in the car,” said Capo.

“I was happy with the pace, and got to experiment with a few set-up changes and driving styles.

“I’m looking forward to continuing to pick up where we left off at Phillip Island on Wednesday, and then head into Sandown and get serious.

“I really like the cars. They are something similar to what I’ve driven before. They are really fun. It has so much power and lots of downforce. Now, we’ll all be fine tuning the set-up to make the car go better and I can only imagine that they will only go faster and faster.

“It’s also been good to develop a relationship with GRM. They have been really good to me over the journey so far and I’m looking forward to building on that in the coming months.”

The maiden S5000 meeting kicks off on Friday with the series joining TCR Australia, Super3, Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge, Australian GT and the Australian Production Car Series on the Shannons Nationals bill.

Entry list: Round 1, Sandown International Motor Raceway Provisional to date