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Joey Mawson has declared the VHT S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship title means more to him than the ADAC Formula 4 crown he won abroad.
Back in 2016, Mawson beat Mick Schumacher – now an F1 driver for Haas – to the predominantly German-based championship.
It doesn’t compare though to his S5000 triumph, doing enough in the Sydney Motorsport Park finale last weekend to seal his place in the exclusive Gold Star club.
The prestigious award was first issued in 1957 to Lex Davison and has since been attached to the various formulae that have held the Australian Drivers’ Championship designation.
Among other Gold Star winners are Mark Skaife (thrice), John Bowe (twice), Scott Dixon, Rick Kelly and Will Power.
After a six-year hiatus, the Gold Star returned this year for the inaugural S5000 season.
Mawson ultimately pipped Thomas Randle by 36 points in a Team BRM championship one-two.
“It’s really cool to etch my name in history,” the 25-year-old told Speedcafe.com.
“[The list of previous winners] is something that is very special about the Gold Star so really over the moon with this championship win.”
Mawson did have a couple of “heart in mouth moments” in the last race of the season – including spearing off at the first corner – but brought the #27 car home in eighth to secure the silverware.
“In hindsight I’m actually kind of glad it happened… it made the victory feel sweeter because it felt like it was going to be taken away at two stages,” he reflected.
“I obviously wanted to win, that was the priority, but the championship for me mattered most so at the end I didn’t really care about the last race’s result.
“It was just a feeling of relief really, once I won that championship.
“Obviously to have my name in history with the Gold Star and to win it at my first go after all the troubles with budget and last-minute deals that I had this year, it made the victory much sweeter.
“And to win it back home in front of family and friends was something that made it much more special than my German F4 championship.”
Mawson will soon assess what’s next, with initial talks already having taken place to return for the 2021/22 S5000 campaign with Team BRM.
“At this stage, I’ll be interested in doing a second season of S5000, particularly as the category is growing,” he added.
“Ideally I would like to have a go at that and try to defend the championship and go back-to-back.
“We’re kind of going into negotiations over the next weeks and months to try to sort out what we are going to do for next year.
“We’ve already had a bit of a small chat, but the next few months we’ll be obviously having a lot more serious chats with them, Alabar and Form 700 to get it all happening and finalised.”
The seven-round 2021/22 season is due to open at Sandown on September 17-19.
