The 2010 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title with the championship winner receiving the 2010 CAMS Gold Star award. The 2010 championship was the 54th Australian Drivers' Championship and the sixth to be contested with open wheel racing cars constructed in accordance with FIA Formula 3 regulations. The season began on 7 March 2010 at the Wakefield Park and finished on 24 October at Sandown Raceway after seven rounds across four different states with three races at each round.

Heading into the final round of the series, British Team BRM driver Ben Barker led the championship over New Zealand teammate Mitch Evans. Barker pulled ahead after taking five of the six wins available at Mallala and Morgan Park and following it up with another win at the Eastern Creek round. Evans was eight points behind Barker, despite missing the Symmons Plains round due to a Formula Abarth test at Misano. Australian driver Tom Tweedie remained in the championship hunt, despite competing in the older 2004 specification Dallara-Renault compared to the 2007 model Team BRM Dallara-Mercedes cars of Barker and Evans.

A pair of fourth places for Barker at Sandown saw the two Team BRM drivers tied on points, however the bonus point scored by Barker for the fastest lap in the final race giving him a one-point championship margin over Evans. Barker was also helped by the annulment of the second race after a serious incident involving Graeme Holmes and John Boothman. Tweedie finished third in the championship standings, 12 points behind Barker. Two other drivers claimed race wins; Andrew Waite who substituted for Evans at Symmons Plains and Tim Macrow who won both Sandown races in his only appearance of the season.

Barker also won the East Coast Challenge, which was contested over the final three rounds of the series. He scored 101 points ahead of Evans (94), Tweedie (80), Chris Gilmour (66), Zhang Shan Qi (38) and Tim Macrow (33).2010 Championship standings as archived at www.webcitation.org on 9 November 2010

Tom Tweedie won the National Class title having outscored his rivals at each of the seven rounds.

Classes Each vehicle competing in the Championship was nominated into one of the following classes: Australian Formula 3 Championship – for automobiles constructed in accordance with the FIA Formula 3 regulations that applied between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2007 National Class – for automobiles constructed in accordance with the FIA Formula 3 regulations that applied between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2004

There was an additional 'Invitation Class' in the regulations – for automobiles constructed in accordance with the appropriate regulations that applied in the year of manufacture,2010 Australian Formula 3 Championship Sporting & Technical Regulations Retrieved from www.camsmanual.com.au on 22 April 2010 As archived at www.webcitation.org on 9 November 2010 however no such vehicle took part during 2010 leaving the class redundant.

Points System Points system was revised for 2010 although the changes are minor.Big changes in store for 2010 title fight Position1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th10thPolePositionFastestLapRaces 1 & 2129876543211 (R1only)1Race 32015121086432101

Drivers of cars from all three classes were eligible to score points towards the Australian Drivers' Championship. National Class and Invitation Class drivers were also eligible to score points towards their respective class awards.

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers competed in the 2010 Australian Drivers' Championship. Entries sourced in part from:Round 1 Entry ListResults – 2010 Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship, Round 2, Symmons PlainsShannons Nationals, Round 7, Morgan Park, Program TeamClassChassisEngineNoDriver Astuti Motorsport Gold Star Dallara F307 Mugen-Honda 2 Mat Sofi Sodemo-Renault 11 Kristian Lindbom Nick Foster Team BRM Gold Star Dallara F307 HWA-Mercedes-Benz 3 Zhang Shan Qi 4 Mitch Evans Andrew Waite 5 Ben Barker R-Tek Motorsport National Dallara F304 Spiess-Opel 7 John Magro Tom Drewer Martin Short Bryce Moore 8 Josh Burdon Joshua Hunt Nathan Morcom Dallara F301 35 Jesse Wakeman JLB Global Timbers National Dallara F301 Novamotor-Fiat 12 John Boothman Cosmetic Medicine Centre National Dallara F304 Spiess-Opel 14 Roman Krumins Gilmour Racing Gold Star Dallara F307 HWA-Mercedes-Benz 17 Chris Gilmour Team Tom National Dallara F304 Sodemo-Renault 19 Tom Tweedie GKH Powdercoating National Dallara F304 Spiess-Opel 21 Graeme Holmes PHR Scuderia National Dallara F304 Sodemo-Renault 25 Tim Macrow Vic's Timber National Dallara F304 Spiess-Opel 42 Ben Gersekowski National Surgical National Dallara F301 Spiess-Opel 51 James Mann TanderSport Gold Star Dallara F307 HWA-Mercedes-Benz 52 Ben Crighton

Race calendar

The championship was contested over a seven-round seriesRace Schedule Retrieved on 8 August 2010 with a round scheduled for Winton Motor Raceway being cancelled as a cost saving initiative.

The final three rounds of the series at Morgan Park, Eastern Creek and Sandown were packaged into a 'series within a series', labelled the East Coast Shootout.

Round Race Circuit Date Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team 1 1 Wakefield Park 6 March Mitch Evans Ben Crighton Mitch Evans Team BRM 2 7 March Ben Crighton Mitch Evans Team BRM 3 Mitch Evans Mitch Evans Team BRM 2 4 Symmons Plains Raceway 10 April Ben Barker Kristian Lindbom Tom Tweedie Team Tom 5 11 April Kristian Lindbom Andrew Waite Team BRM 6 Tom Tweedie Tom Tweedie Team Tom 3 7 Phillip Island 1 May Mitch Evans Ben Barker Mitch Evans Team BRM 8 2 May Ben Barker Mitch Evans Team BRM 9 Mitch Evans Mitch Evans Team BRM 4 10 Mallala Motor Sport Park 29 May Mitch Evans Ben Barker Ben Barker Team BRM 11 30 May Ben Barker Ben Barker Team BRM 12 Ben Barker Ben Barker Team BRM 5 13 Morgan Park Raceway 14 August Mitch Evans Ben Barker Ben Barker Team BRM 14 15 August Mitch Evans Tom Tweedie Team Tom 15 Mitch Evans Ben Barker Team BRM 6 16 Eastern Creek Raceway 11 September Mitch Evans Ben Barker Mitch Evans Team BRM 17 12 September Ben Barker Mitch Evans Team BRM 18 Ben Barker Ben Barker Team BRM 7 19 Sandown Raceway 23 October Tim Macrow Mitch Evans Tim Macrow PHR Scuderia 20 24 October Red flag: Race cancelled 21 Ben Barker Tim Macrow PHR Scuderia

Drivers Championship Pos Driver WAK1 WAK2 WAK3 SYM1 SYM2 SYM3 PHI1 PHI2 PHI3 MAL1 MAL2 MAL3 MOR1 MOR2 MOR3 EAS1 EAS2 EAS3 SAN1 SAN2 SAN3 Pts GOLD STAR 1 Ben Barker 4 4 4 4 5 2 3 2 Ret 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 4 4 220 2 Mitch Evans 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 2 2 5 3 2 1 1 3 2 2 219 3 Tom Tweedie 3 3 3 1 2 1 2 5 2 2 4 3 2 1 4 3 3 2 5 3 208 4 Zhang Shan Qi 6 6 6 Ret 7 7 8 7 6 4 6 4 4 5 5 6 5 Ret 7 9 97 5 Chris Gilmour 4 4 4 3 4 3 5 4 4 3 5 90 6 Ben Crighton 2 2 2 6 3 3 60 7 John Magro 5 5 5 5 4 4 10 9 7 50 8 Josh Burdon 6 6 5 6 5 6 6 6 46 9 Kristian Lindbom 3 3 6 5 6 5 43 10 Tim Macrow 1 1 33 Andrew Waite 2 1 3 33 12 Martin Short 5 3 5 22 13 Ben Gersekowski Ret DNS 7 7 8 8 8 7 21 14 Roman Krumins 10 9 8 7 7 9 11 11 10 10 10 19 15 Mat Sofi 4 7 6 17 16 Joshua Hunt 6 6 6 16 Nathan Morcom 8 6 5 16 18 Tom Drewer 7 8 7 11 19 Jesse Wakeman 7 8 8 10 20 James Mann 8 8 8 9 21 Graeme Holmes 9 DNS Ret Ret 12 9 9 DNS 6 22 Bryce Moore Ret 8 3 Nick Foster 9 10 Ret 3 - John Boothman 11 Ret 0 National Class 1 Tom Tweedie 3 3 3 1 2 1 2 5 2 2 4 3 2 1 4 3 3 2 5 3 310 2 John Magro 5 5 5 5 4 4 10 9 7 92 3 Roman Krumins 10 9 8 7 7 9 11 11 10 10 10 80 4 Josh Burdon 6 6 5 6 5 6 6 6 76 5 Ben Gersekowski Ret DNS 7 7 8 8 8 7 56 6 Martin Short 5 3 5 36 7 Tim Macrow 1 1 34 8 Joshua Hunt 6 6 6 33 Tom Drewer 7 8 7 33 10 Nathan Morcom 8 6 5 39 11 Graeme Holmes 9 DNS Ret Ret 12 9 9 DNS 27 12 Jesse Wakeman 7 8 8 24 James Mann 8 8 8 24 14 Bryce Moore Ret 8 8 15 John Boothman 11 Ret 4 East Coast Shootout 1 Ben Barker 1 2 1 2 2 1 4 4 101 2 Mitch Evans 5 3 2 1 1 3 2 2 94 3 Tom Tweedie 2 1 4 3 3 2 5 3 80 4 Chris Gilmour 3 4 3 5 4 4 3 5 66 5 Zhang Shan Qi 4 5 5 6 5 Ret 7 9 33 6 Tim Macrow 1 1 33 7 Ben Gersekowski Ret DNS 7 7 8 8 8 7 21 8 Mat Sofi 4 7 6 17 9 Nathan Morcom 8 6 5 16 Joshua Hunt 6 6 6 16 11 Roman Krumins 11 11 10 10 10 13 12 Josh Burdon 6 6 11 13 James Mann 8 8 8 9 14 John Magro 10 9 7 7 15 Graeme Holmes Ret 12 9 9 DNS 4 16 Bryce Moore Ret 8 3 Nick Foster 9 10 Ret 3

See also Australian Drivers' Championship Australian Formula 3

References

External links Official Australian Formula 3 website 2010 Championship standings as archived at www.webcitation.org on 9 November 2010