Macrow fastest in landmark first S5000 session

Tim Macrow took the honour of topping the first competitive session for the new V8 powered S5000 single seater series at Sandown.

The MTEC Motorsport driver, and long time S5000 test driver, hit the top of the timesheets just before the halfway mark with a 1:07.75s, before going on to progress to a 1:06.74s effort.

Macrow was almost a second faster than the field until the final minutes when Will Brown (Eggleston Motorsport) closed to within 0.4s of the former two-time Australian Formula 3 champion.

The session ran without incident with all 13 of the new S5000 cars logging times.

Supercars driver James Golding quickly found pace from his Garry Rogers Motorsport entry, sitting third at the mid-point where he remained at the chequered flag, 0.8s adrift.

Experienced single-seater driver John Martin (AGI Sport) was the first to log a lap in the 1:08s and continued to shave time off his benchmark to wind up in fourth.

Former IndyCar racer Matthew Brabham also enjoyed a brief period at the top of the timesheets but dropped to fifth at the chequered flag.

Meanwhile, 11-time Formula 1 race winner Rubens Barrichello was sixth fastest in his first competitive single seater session for seven years and maiden outing at Sandown.

The top 10 was rounded out by Alex Davison (Team BRM), Ricky Capo (Modena Engineering), Tim Berryman (Team BRM) and Tom Alexander (AGI Sport).

The S5000 field will return for a second 20 minute session at 1530 AEST.

Results: S5000 Practice 1, Sandown