The preliminary schedule released by promoters the Australian Racing Group is made up of six of the seven Nationals rounds, starting with Sydney Motorsport Park in May before trips to Phillip Island, The Bend (times two), Winton, and Sandown.

While the current calendar doesn't include any rounds in New Zealand, there are ongoing plans to reinstate a Tasman Series in the future.

The preliminary calendar also indicates that a tie-up with Supercars is unlikely in the first season, despite the latest-spec car making its public debut at the Newcastle 500 this weekend.

The calendar announcement comes as the series is officially launched at Sydney Motorsport Park, with the likes of Supercars team owners Brad Jones and Garry Rogers on hand to watch the car run for the first time, as well as Supercars drivers Chaz Mostert, Andre Heimgartner, Luke Youlden, and Jason Bright.

The series' development driver Tim Macrow completed the first laps in the car.

According to series founder Chris Lambden, the unveiling of both car and calendar should help spur interest as ARG looks to lock down competitors for 2019.

“The revealing of the S5000 is truely a landmark day for Australian motorsport,” said Chris Lambden.

“There is now the certainty that teams and drivers have been looking for to enable them to commit and plan for 2019. S5000 is going to offer the ‘big-bang’, serious open-wheeler racing that Australia hasn’t seen for decades, and there’s no doubt that the car and competition package will excite people.

“Confirmation of the CAMS Australian S5000 Championship schedule for 2019, headlining the Shannons Nationals, is great news all-round.

"It’s the ground base on which the future of S5000 will be built.

“There are discussions also going on with Supercars, among other promotors, with a view to S5000 running at some of their events, which will certainly add some icing to the cake.”

Preliminary 2019 S5000 calendar