Macrow sees off Martin in thrilling S5000 opener 

Tim Macrow has become the first race winner in S5000 after seeing off John Martin in an entertaining inaugural qualifying race at Sandown.

The MTEC Motorsport driver managed to jump polesitter Martin (AGI Sport) in what was a frantic start to the 16 lap contest that saw Rubens Barrichello forced off the road at Turn 1 after a nudge from Barton Mawer.  

At the front Macrow was never allowed to relax with Martin applying pressure throughout.

Martin had a sniff of the lead on Lap 2 when Macrow locked up and ran wide at Turn 3, but ultimately it was James Golding who took the advantage.

Golding, who started from fourth, slid by Martin in a dramatic almost three car wide run to Turn 6, but the latter returned the favour two laps later and continued his pursuit of Macrow.

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Martin managed to reel in Macrow, who had a 1.6s lead for the final laps but it was the former, who hung on to take the chequered flag by 0.4s.

Golding held off a charging Matthew Brabham who scythed his way from ninth to fourth at the flag in the #83 MTEC Motorsport entry.

Brabham put Golding under serious pressure but was unable to find a way by the Garry Rogers Motorsport Supercars driver.   

After suffering opening lap contact, former Formula 1 star Barrichello fought back from ninth to seventh behind Will Brown (Eggleston Motorsport) and Alex Davison (Team BRM).

The highlight of the Brazilian’s recovery was a gutsy on the brakes pass on Ricky Capo (Modena Engineering) for seventh at Turn 1 midway through the race.  

Capo followed Barrichello to the flag in eighth while the top 10 was completed by Mawer and Tim Berryman.

Tom Alexander (AGI Sport) was the only retirement after he came to a halt on the exit of Turn 4 on lap 3.

The S5000 field will return on Sunday for the second Qualifying Race ahead of the 30 minute Feature Race tomorrow afternoon. 

Results: S5000 Qualifying Race, Sandown

Pos	Num	Driver	Team	Car	Laps	Time
1	23	Tim Macrow	MTEC Motorsport	S5000	16	17:41.4160
2	24	John Martin	AGI Sport	S5000	16	17:41.8671
3	31	James Golding	Garry Rogers Motorsport	S5000	16	17:46.5619
4	83	Matthew Brabham	MTEC Motorsport	S5000	16	17:48.2286
5	38	Will Brown	Eggleston Motorsport	S5000	16	17:52.4817
6	8	Alex Davison	Team BRM	S5000	16	17:53.9244
7	111	Rubens Barrichello	Team BRM	S5000	16	17:56.5360
8	34	Ricky Capo	Modena Engineering	S5000	16	18:05.3495
9	27	Barton Mawer	Milldun Motorsport	S5000	16	18:13.9251
10	33	Tim Berryman	Team BRM	S5000	16	18:17.1131
11	97	Taylor Cockerton	MTEC Motorsport	S5000	16	18:27.7924
12	11	Michael Gibson	AMC Finance	S5000	16	18:39.4766
DNF	22	Tom Alexander	AGI Sport	S5000	2	2:32.9546