The Shannons Nationals hits the iconic Sandown Raceway this weekend in one of biggest rounds in the event’s history.
Ahead of the year’s Sandown round, cams.com.au/thenationals.com.au looks at all the categories in action.
S5000
For the second time in 2019, a category will be officially debuting on the Shannons Nationals after the carsales TCR Australia Series held its first round at the season opener in Sydney.
S5000 promises to be one of the most exciting categories on Australian soil and the promoter, Australian Racing Group has gone all out on setting up a weekend to remember.
A number of local talents and international stars are confirmed in the field, including former Formula 1 star Rubens Barrichello headlining the field.
Drivers will complete in two qualifying races before a main, feature race on Sunday.
carsales TCR Australia Series
It’s been a whirlwind first season for one of Australia’s newest national categories and this weekend will see the series hit the track for the second last time in 2019.
A big round is in store for current leader Will Brown with the 2016 CAMS PAYCE Formula 4 Champion more than 100 points ahead of second placed Dylan O’Keeffe and in the box seat to claim the inaugural title.
While the HMO Customer Racing driver holds the lead – the series is far from over. While O’Keefe sits in second, Tony D’Alberto, Nathan Morcom and Aaron Cameron are all within touching distance of Brown.
Like all previous rounds, the series will have qualifying and race one on Saturday before race two and three on Sunday.
All races will be broadcast on SBS and the Shannons Nationals live stream
Kumho Tyres Super3
It all comes down to this weekend for the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship’s third tier with the series holding its final round of 2019.
There is a lot on the line for a number of drivers and while there are four technically in title contention, realistically it’s a two horse race between Broc Feeney and Jayden Ojeda.
Despite Feeney leading the series, it’s Ojeda who enters the round as favourite thanks to his three consecutive round wins and his solid previous record at the Victorian track in the past.
With 18 drivers taking part in the season finale, the category will have two races on Saturday before the final race of the season takes place on Sunday afternoon.
CAMS Australian Endurance Championship
Another category set to come to a conclusion this weekend, the GTs will declare their endurance championship winner at Sandown.
Leading the way is 2018 CAMS Australian GT Champion Geoff Emery and co-driver Garth Tander with the duo having claimed a round win and second place.
While the track has not provided Emery with good memories in previous years, he will be hoping to put his bad luck behind him with a title, but will have to watch out for the Fraser Ross and Ryan Simpson driven McLaren.
Fourth placed Peter Hackett is also due for a big result in the endurance rounds, despite failing to fire in the previous two rounds. He will have to call on previous experience at his home track for any chance for silverware.
It will be a different looking formation for the championship, with the standard three hour races replaced with three one hour legs, including the weekend's final race late on Sunday afternoon.
Australian Production Cars Series
The series’ penultimate round kicks off the official business for this weekend with the first of the four races taking place on Friday afternoon.
Barely anything separates the top four crews as Chris Lillis leads the four title contenders in Grant and Iain Sherrin, Beric Lynton and Tim Leahey and the fourth placed Dimitri Agathos and Matthew Boylan.
Boasting the biggest field out of the six categories, 24 crews will contend in the four endurance races and Lynton will be expecting to recreate his form from last year for a win, while a number of drivers will be making their APC debuts.
With two races to occur on Saturday, the series will wrap up their round on Sunday afternoon.
Porsche Michelin GT3 Cup Challenge Australia
The one-make Porsche series holds its second last round in 2019 as well as the finale for the special Jim Richards endurance trophy series.
Harri Jones is leading both competitions and in arms reach of both titles, with the young star having a brilliant year behind the wheel.
For the endurance trophy, Aaron Love and Christian Pancione are the other contenders with a chance of securing top honours, while South Australian Max Vidau joins Love as the other major player in the outright series title.
The Porsches will have three races throughout the weekend with two on Saturday and the final race for the weekend on Sunday morning.
