Supercars and Motorsport Australia are working together to allow open-wheel star Joey Mawson to compete in the Sandown and Bathurst endurance races.
Mawson has an FIA Super Licence as a dual Australian Drivers’ Champion, but doesn’t meet the Supercars criterion of competing in at least six Super2 events.
The S5000 star, on course for a third straight ‘Gold Star’ title, is PremiAir Racing’s first choice to partner Tim Slade in the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000.
Mawson’s status is clouded by an administrative mistake that rates him as an FIA Silver driver, whereas his results rate Gold status.
A driver with a Gold rating automatically qualifies for Supercars.
Motorsport Australia is pressing the FIA to update Mawson’s status as Supercars supports his elevation to compete in the Sandown and Bathurst enduros.
Supercars supremo Shane Howard revealed that a recent Commission meeting backed Mawson’s eligibility.
“This was discussed and pretty much the entire room believes that Joey is very talented driver and that it’d be good to give him the opportunity,” Howard said.
“We’re currently working with Motorsport Australia to investigate that opportunity of that Gold licence being applied and when that could be applied, and then how we could assist him with that.”
Motorsport Australia boss Eugene Arocca confirmed that while the governing body is working to elevate Mawson’s status to Gold, individual sanctioned categories like Supercars have the right to determine eligibility.
“In the end, it’s up to them who can participate or not,” Arocca said. “We can’t take that right away.
“That’s up to an athlete or a team or someone else to challenge if they believe that’s unjustified. We provide a structure for the issuing of Superlicence – we don’t provide a structure for category entitlements.”
He added: “I feel for Joey Mawson. He’s been caught up in a sort of administrative maelstrom. The FIA knows he’s entitled to a Gold level. But they don’t normally review that until the end of the year.
“So we’re going to talk about his level with the FIA to see if they can review the way in which they allow qualifications mid-year, for example.
“I’m hoping that the Joey Mawson situation will resolve itself. He’s too good a talented driver to be denied the opportunity as a double Gold Star winner to be able to compete in Supercars.
“It’s not my decision, but we want to work with Supercars to see if that’s possible.”
Supercars’ backing and Motorsport Australia’s support mean it’s likely Mawson, in any event, will get a dispensation to co-drive at Sandown and Bathurst because he is clearly an elite-level driver.
On top of his junior European experience, Mawson has dominated S5000, a ‘big-banger’ V8 single-seater series.
He is on course for a third straight ‘Gold Star’ title, which would elevate him to among the greats of Aussie open-wheel racing.
Difficult to drive, S5000s are rated as at least equal to Super2 as an entrée to Supercars.
PremiAir Racing Supercars standout James Golding is a regular front-runner in S5000, adding to Mawson’s case.
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