Australian circuit racing, since the end of
Tasman Series racing in the 1970s, been heavily focused on
touring car racing at the professional level.
Open wheeler formula racing series such as
Formula Holden and
Formula 3 struggled to gain spectator and sponsor interest, and eventually folded. The idea for a modern interpretation of the historic
Formula 5000 class was first raised in 2016, and was initially called the
Formula Thunder 5000. The original car used a
Swift FN09 chassis that raced in
Super Formula between 2009 and 2013. A year later in 2017, the
Super5000 series was later created by former
Supercars CEO
James Warburton, as part of his plan to sustain growth of motorsport in Australia. The series would originally be used as a support category for the Supercars series, alongside the
Super2 and
SuperUtes series. The creation of this series led to controversy, and the founder of Formula Thunder 5000, Chris Lambden, disapproved of the idea, claiming it would threaten his own plans. Later that same year, both series announced a merger in a bid to further ensure the return of a
formula racing series in Australia. The formation of the S5000 series came as a result, and would incorporate technical elements from both the Formula Thunder 5000 and the Super5000 series. A preliminary schedule was originally announced in 2018, with
Sydney Motorsport Park as the season opener. However, in April 2019, the organisers announced that the series would be delayed four months and that the
inaugural season would instead kick off in September 2019 at
Sandown Raceway, due to supply issues from
Ligier's Charlotte area factory. The organisers also wanted to ensure that the S5000 car would be properly tested. The first event attracted an entry of 13 drivers, including former
Formula One driver
Rubens Barrichello. The feature race was marred, however, by an accident involving
Alex Davison which caused damage to safety barriers and forced organisers to red-flag the race after just 10 of the scheduled 25 laps. The race was won by
James Golding, with Barrichello second and
John Martin in third. A second event was held at
The Bend, with the feature race being won by John Martin. For 2020, a six-round championship was planned, set to start as a support event for the
2020 Australian Grand Prix held at
Albert Park, with the championship to be followed by a non-championship race at
Mount Panorama. It was also announced in early 2020 that the championship would see the revival of the
Australian Drivers' Championship title, last awarded in
2014 Australian Drivers' Championship for
Formula 3 cars. This was accompanied by a plan to award trophies named after prominent Australian racing drivers to the winners of each feature race, with the winner of the feature race at Albert Park to be awarded the Alan Jones Cup. The opening round attracted a larger entry, including inaugural feature race winner Golding, two-time Australian Drivers' Champion
Tim Macrow, and international entrants including the return of Barrichello and fellow Formula One veteran
Giancarlo Fisichella,
Formula 2 driver
Jack Aitken and
2019 Bathurst 1000 winner
Alexandre Prémat. After practice and qualifying sessions on Thursday 12 March, Golding had pole position. However, on Friday morning the entire Grand Prix meeting was called off as a result of the escalating
COVID-19 pandemic, so no race was held. Due to ongoing difficulties surrounding the pandemic, modified calendars were announced a few times over the year, with plans made for a championship running over late 2020 into early 2021. In the end, however, no races were held in 2020 and instead a short four race calendar was announced to be run in early 2021, with a second, longer summer series to run from late 2021 to early 2022. The first championship event, and first race of the
2021 season, finally got underway in January at
Symmons Plains, with
Thomas Randle winning the feature race. ==Suspension for 2024==