Event: 2013 Australian Muscle Car Masters

[Jerry Entin]

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Young rookie star Tom Tweedie in his F5000 debut in his Chevron B24

Saturday August 31, 2013

Sydney youngster Tom Tweedie has got his Formula 5000 career off to a blazing start, by defeating the cream of NZ F5000 stars on the opening day of the 2013/14 F5000 Australia Cup, being run at the Muscle Car Masters, at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Poleman Tweedie was beaten away from the start by Auckland gun Clark 'Metalman' Proctor, with NZ legend Ken Smith in close attendance.

For lap after lap, Tweedie's red Chevron B24 poked and prodded either side of Proctor's familiar yellow March, only for the door to be firmly shut.

It looked as though Proctor had all the answers until, with just over a lap to go, Tweedie squeezed through, to take a stunning F5000 series debut win. In his attempts to keep the youngster at bay, Proctor set the race's fastest lap - at 1m27.8312s. Smith (Lola T332) kept a watching brief throughout for a strong third, ahead of Aucklander Andrew Higgins (Lola T400), Melbourne Matich A50-mounted Bryan Sala, and Aaron Lewis' similar car.
The series debut of Richard Davison - father of V8 Supercar stars Will and Alex - got off to a tough start with what appeared to be an electronic failure early in the race, in the former Teddy Yip/Alan Jones Lola.

Tweedie, who has come via Australian F3 and Porsche Carrera Cup, before today's debut in F5000, was thrilled: "I certainly didn't expect to win like that, first up," he grinned. "Racing a car like that against some of the regular pace-setters in F5000 is a huge buzz itself. Clark got a great start and it was pretty late in the race before the opportunity came to get past. It was tremendous, hard, but clean racing. Fantastic." The field will contest a second qualifying heat on Sunday morning before the afternoon's feature race.

The 2013/14 Formula 5000 Australia Cup is supported by Gibson Freight and Mediterranean Shipping Company.
Photo: John Morris/Mpix
For further information:
Chris Lambden - F5000 Australia - +61 418 580 700
Report sent site: David Abbott