The 2012 Formula 3 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title with the winner awarded the 2012 CAMS Gold Star award. The 2012 championship was the 56th Australian Drivers' Championship and the eighth to be contested with open wheel racing cars constructed in accordance with FIA Formula 3 regulations. The 2012 Australian Formula 3 Championship title was also awarded to the series winner.2016 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport – Australian Titles, docs.cams.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org The championship began on 1 March 2012 at the Adelaide Street Circuit and ended on 23 September at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit after seven rounds across six different states with three races at each round.

The championship was secured by British driver James Winslow after the penultimate round held at Queensland Raceway. It was Winslow's second championship victory after having won previously in 2008. Winslow, driving for R-Tek Motorsport, won 13 of the 21 races, including five of the seven feature races, over the course of the season, a new record for the Australian Drivers' Championship, eclipsing the 12 wins Rick Kelly took in 2001. Defending champion Chris Gilmour ended the series in second place having won two races. Winslow's teammate Steel Giuliania finished third in the championship with just over half of the points Winslow collected. Jordan Skinner of Team BRM and Hayden Cooper of BF Racing each collected a their debut race victories. The other races wins were collected by John Magro whose partial season campaign with Team BRM ended with winning the Hidden Valley round. Tim Macrow made a brief return to the series he won in 2007, contesting a single round with Astuti Motorsport, winning at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Cooper won the National Class, for cars built between 1999 and 2004, over fellow Queensland and BF Racing teammate Ben Gersekowski. Lochie Marshall finished third.

Race calendar

The championship was contested over a seven-round series, with two Sprint Races and a Feature Race at each round.2012 Results, www.formula3.com.au, as archived at www.webcitation.org Retrieved on 21 November 2012

Round Circuit Date Winner 1 Adelaide Street Circuit 1–4 March James Winslow 2 Symmons Plains Raceway 30 March – 1 April James Winslow 3 Mount Panorama Circuit 6–8 April James Winslow 4 Hidden Valley Raceway 15–17 June John Magro 5 Eastern Creek Raceway 13–15 July Tim Macrow 6 Queensland Raceway 3–5 August James Winslow 7 Phillip Island 21–23 September Chris Gilmour

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers contested the 2012 Australian Drivers' Championship. Entries sourced in part from:www.natsoft.com.au TeamClassChassisEngineDriver Gilmour Racing Gold Star Dallara F307 HWA-Mercedes-Benz 1 Chris Gilmour Astuti Motorsport Gold Star Dallara F307 Mugen-Honda 2 Mat Sofi Sodemo-Renault 11 Chris Vlok Tim Macrow Nathan Morcom Team BRM Gold Star Dallara F307 HWA-Mercedes-Benz 3 John Magro 4 Jordan Skinner 5 Nick Foster R-Tek Motorsport Gold Star Dallara F307 HWA-Mercedes-Benz 6 James Winslow 7 Steel Giuliana National Dallara F304 Spiess-Opel 8 Chris Slusarski Mike Wayne Jon Collins 9 Adrian Cottrell Adam Gill Jon Collins Marshall Motorsport National Dallara F304 Sodemo-Renault 22 Lockie Marshall Mills Motorsport Gold Star Mygale M07 HWA-Mercedes-Benz 32 Jon Mills BF Racing National Dallara F304 Spiess-Opel 42 Ben Gersekowski 93 Hayden Cooper Harvest Motorsport Gold Star Mygale M10 HWA-Mercedes-Benz 46 Roman Krumins Snake Racing National Dallara F304 Sodemo-Renault 66 Nathan Gotch G-Force Motorsport Gold Star Mygale M07 HWA-Mercedes-Benz 77 Cam Waters Jake Fouracre

Classes Competing cars were nominated into one of three classes:2012 Australian Formula 3 Championship Sporting and Technical Regulations, www.formula3.com.au, as archived at www.webcitation.org Retrieved on 21 November 2012 Australian Formula 3 Championship – for automobiles constructed in accordance with the FIA Formula 3 regulations that applied in the year of manufacture between 1 January 2002 and 31 December 2011. National Class – for automobiles constructed in accordance with the FIA Formula 3 regulations that applied in the year of manufacture between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2004. Invitation Class.

There were no competitors in the Invitation Class in the 2012 championship.

Points system Championship points were awarded as follows: One point to the driver placed in the highest grid position for the first race at each round. 12–9–8–7–6–5–4–3–2–1 for the first ten finishing position in each Sprint Race. 20–15–12–10–8–6–4–3–2–1 for the first ten finishing position in each Feature Race. One point to the driver setting the fastest lap time in each race.

Points towards the National Class award were allocated on the same basis as used for the outright championship.

Results

Drivers' championship Pos Driver ADE1 ADE2 ADE3 SYM1 SYM2 SYM3 BAT1 BAT2 BAT3 HID1 HID2 HID3 EAS1 EAS2 EAS3 QLD1 QLD2 QLD3 PHI1 PHI2 PHI3 Pts GOLD STAR 1 James Winslow 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 2 5 1 2 2 1 1 1 8 3 1 276 2 Chris Gilmour 3 3 3 4 3 2 4 2 2 1 5 2 3 4 4 6 3 2 1 4 2 215 3 Steel Giuliania 9 10 9 2 4 5 Ret 8 6 6 4 3 4 3 3 2 2 3 2 Ret 3 141 4 Jordan Skinner 4 4 5 3 5 4 1 Ret 8 5 6 7 Ret 5 5 3 4 6 111 5 Hayden Cooper 8 7 4 6 8 7 7 7 5 9 9 9 5 8 6 5 5 4 3 1 Ret 109 6 John Magro 6 5 7 Ret 2 3 Ret 4 Ret 2 1 1 88 7 Ben Gersekowski 5 8 Ret Ret 7 8 6 5 4 10 7 8 6 Ret 8 4 7 DNS Ret 6 6 75 8 Lockie Marshall 7 8 6 8 10 7 7 6 5 4 7 5 57 9 Tim Macrow 2 1 1 44 10 Adrian Cottrell Ret Ret 6 5 6 6 5 6 7 38 11 Mat Sofi 2 2 2 35 12 Nick Foster 3 3 3 28 13 Cam Waters 4 3 4 25 14 Nathan Morcom 5 5 4 22 15 Jon Collins DNS 7 9 8 9 8 Ret Ret 7 18 Roman Krumins 9 8 7 7 8 9 18 17 Jake Fouracre 6 2 8 17 18 Nathan Gotch 8 9 Ret 7 6 10 15 19 Mike Wayne 7 9 9 8 10 10 10 Ret DNS 14 20 Chris Vlok 7 6 Ret 9 21 Chris Slusarski 10 9 8 6 22 Jon Mills 8 Ret Ret DNS DNS DNS Ret Ret DNS 3 23 Adam Gill Ret 9 Ret 2

See also Australian Drivers' Championship Australian Formula 3

References

External links Official Australian Formula 3 website