Joey Mawson has hung on to win from pole position in Race 1 of the S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park.

But it was far from straightforward, with the 2021 Gold Star winner forced to defend against Aaron Cameron for the bulk of the 12-lap encounter under lights.

Cameron appeared to have the pace advantage and aggressively sought a way by, but Mawson was up to the task, winning by less than half a second to extend his championship lead.

It was James Golding who had initially run second after jumping Garry Rogers Motorsport team-mate Cameron at the start.

However, Golding soon slowed and returned to pit lane with a broken steering arm.

That cleared the path for Cameron to attack Mawson, the #18 driver having a big slide through Turn 4 on Lap 8 as he upped his chase.

Behind it was Nathan Herne who gradually reeled in Tim Macrow in the battle for the final podium place.

Macrow just scraped through for third, while Shae Davies beat Versa Motorsport team-mate Cooper Webster for fifth.

Webster was issued a five-second penalty for contact with Blake Purdie on Lap 1, which saw the latter run off at Turn 8 with a cut tyre.

The second of three S5000 races this weekend will start tomorrow at 12:05 AEST.