Following a Disciplinary Tribunal Tuesday, 17th November, for an incident at the Bathurst event last month, 18 year old Mason Barbera has had his licence suspended until the end of the year taking the Rookie out of the final Round of the 2015 East Coast Bullbars Australian V8 Ute Racing Series at the Coates Hire Sydney 500 (4 – 6 December).

Barbera was originally hit with a penalty of $10,000, 26 championship points and exclusion from the meeting for dangerous re-entry in Race 3 at Bathurst, which caused contact with Adam Beechey, the case was then seen by the stewards at the Gold Coast 600 event, where he pleaded guilty, the stewards then recommended the case be heard by the Disciplinary Tribunal and for the Queenslander to receive an extra 6 month suspension, Barbera received the suspension until the end of the year (31st December 2015).

The Rookie has had a tough year, putting himself into the wall at Sandown Raceway and was hit with various penalties at Townsville and Darwin for careless driving but like most young-guns he has had a lot to learn.

“Look I would have loved to have finished the year off, we did have a tough year but had in our minds that we are a rookie and we had a lot of learning to do including the tracks we raced at, although it was a tough year we learnt a massive amount and next year I’m going to come back with a more mature head and try and earn some respect back in the field and have more competitive races and less mistakes,” said Barbera.

Barbera was the youngest ever driver to race a V8 Ute when he took the wheel last year on debut at the Sydney 500, he also made history this year as the youngest V8 Ute driver to ever compete at the Bathurst 1000 event.

The Bundaberg local will still attend Sydney but this time on the sidelines assisting the team.