The 2026 Hankook Australian Drivers' Championship is a motor racing championship in Australia. It is the third running of the championship created in 2024 when its sanctioning body, the Australian Auto Sport Alliance, secured the rights to the Australian Drivers' Championship title dating back to 1957. The series is a spec series using the open-wheel Hyper Racer X1.
The 2026 season started on 13 March at The Bend Motorsport Park and will be run over six race weekends.
Ironclad ID driver Damon Sterling entered the season as the reigning champion.
Teams and drivers All drivers compete with a Hyper Racer X1 car powered by a Suzuki Hayabusa engine on Hankook tires. All teams and drivers are Australian-registered. TeamDriverRoundsIronclad ID1Damon Sterling1Hyper Racer2Dean Crooke2–5Toplyne Concreting4Royce Lyne5Summons RacingAaron Imbach1–212Rob Summons2Omnitude Adventures5Christopher Carydias1–5Privateer11Stephen Donnellan1–4Pakelo Lubricants Carbon Racing14Jack Lewis1–537Kalen Chin3–538Zachary Catlin1–5Stoke Foiling19Hamish Leighton1–2Peter Nowlan23Peter Nowlan2–3, 5Controltech Solutions24Brenton Davey1–5Above All Concrete25Josh Gardiner1, 3–5Driveght.com.au/RPM8633Ashwin Dyall3–4Lucas Stasi Racing34Lucas Stasi1–5SimworX Simulators48Luke Klaver4Montgomery Haulage / Ringwood Kart Centre63Harry Strik1–5Ausnets68Terry Knowles1–2, 4Spectre Property74Bradley Smith1–5Justin Yuen Motorsport77Justin Yuen1–5LeMans Entertainment82Rocco Spinley1–5Quad Lock88Chris Peters1–2, 4–5RAW Australia Roofing95Rory McKercher1, 3Sources:
Calendar
The 2026 calendar was first announced on 8 January 2026, with the date and venue of the final round still to be confirmed.
RoundCircuitDateSupport BillMap of circuit locations 1R1 The Bend Motorsport Park, Tailem Bend 13 MarchTA2 Muscle Car SeriesFormula RX8Legend Car Australia Asphalt SeriesAustralian Formula Ford ChampionshipProduction Sports Car Racing VictoriaInnovation Race Cars SeriesR214 MarchR3R4 2R1 Calder Park Raceway, Melbourne 18 AprilBMW Driver's CupProduction Sports Car Racing VictoriaVictorian Excel Racing Championship SeriesVictorian Super TT ChampionshipVictorian V8 SeriesR219 AprilR3R4 3R1 One Raceway, Goulburn 20 JuneFormula RX8Legend Car Australia Asphalt SeriesStock Cars Australia National SeriesAASA Tin Tops SeriesR2R321 JuneR4R5 4R1 Sydney Motorsport Park, Eastern Creek 17 JulyLegend Car Australia Asphalt SeriesAustralian Production Car SeriesAustralian Formula Ford ChampionshipProduction Sports Car Racing VictoriaFormula RX8TA2 Muscle Car SeriesR2R318 JulyR4 5R1 Winton Motor Raceway, Winton 3 OctoberVictorian Formula Vee ChampionshipVictorian Superkart ChampionshipVictorian Super TT ChampionshipR24 OctoberR3R4 6R1 Calder Park Raceway, Melbourne 13–15 NovemberAASA National Formula Ford ChampionshipFormula RX8Innovation Race Cars SeriesLegend Car Australia Asphalt SeriesStock Cars Australia National SeriesTA2 Muscle Car SeriesR2R3R4
Race results RoundCircuitPole positionFastest lapWinning driverWinning team 1R1 The Bend Motorsport ParkHarry StrikHarry StrikDamon SterlingIronclad IDR2Harry StrikDamon SterlingIronclad IDR3Harry StrikDamon SterlingIronclad IDR4Harry StrikBradley SmithSpectre Property 2R1 Calder Park RacewayLucas StasiBradley SmithLucas StasiLucas Stasi RacingR2Rocco SpinleyBradley SmithSpectre PropertyR3Lucas StasiBradley SmithSpectre PropertyR4Zachary CatlinBradley SmithSpectre Property 3R1 One RacewayHarry StrikHarry StrikHarry StrikMontgomery Haulage / Ringwood Kart CentreR2Harry StrikHarry StrikMontgomery Haulage / Ringwood Kart CentreR3Harry StrikHarry StrikMontgomery Haulage / Ringwood Kart CentreR4Harry StrikHarry StrikMontgomery Haulage / Ringwood Kart CentreR5Brenton DaveyZachary CatlinPakelo Lubricants Carbon Racing 4R1 Sydney Motorsport ParkHarry StrikKalen ChinKalen ChinPakelo Lubricants Carbon RacingR2Kalen ChinKalen ChinPakelo Lubricants Carbon RacingR3Rocco SpinleyLucas StasiLucas Stasi RacingR4Kalen ChinHarry StrikMontgomery Haulage / Ringwood Kart Centre 5R1 Winton Motor RacewayHarry StrikHarry StrikHarry StrikMontgomery Haulage / Ringwood Kart CentreR2Harry StrikHarry StrikMontgomery Haulage / Ringwood Kart CentreR3Royce LyneHarry StrikMontgomery Haulage / Ringwood Kart CentreR4Harry StrikHarry StrikMontgomery Haulage / Ringwood Kart Centre 6R1 Calder Park RacewayR2R3R4
Season report The third AASA-sanctioned Australian Drivers' Championship began in March at The Bend Motorsport Park with pole position for Harry Strik. Ironclad ID's reigning champion Damon Sterling got the better start to the first race, however, and led from start to finish, with Strik taking second ahead of Spectre Property's Bradley Smith. Sterling won once again in race two as Strik ran off track and fell to fifth, conceding the podium to Smith and Justin Yuen. Race three saw the same top three as race two, before Sterling retired after his engine blew in race four. That allowed Smith to take the final win of the weekend ahead of Hamish Leighton and Yuen, while he also took a narrow lead in the championship.
The second round was held at Calder Park Raceway, where privateer Lucas Stasi took pole position in qualifying ahead of Controltech Solutions' Brenton Davey. Davey quickly slipped back in the first race, allowing Stasi to pull away and win while Smith and Carbon Racing's Zachary Catlin debated second. Race two saw Stasi and Smith duel over the win, with Smith coming out ahead. Smith then collected two more victories, one after colliding with Stasi in race three, while Davey and LeMans Entertainment's Rocco Spinley collected a third and a second place each. With pre-event second-placed driver Sterling absent, Smith was therefore able to greatly expand his points standings over Catlin and Stasi.
Round three at One Raceway held five races instead of the usual four, and Strik took pole position in qualifying for the first one. Stasi overtook him in the middle of the first race, but Strik was able to get back past him to take his maiden victory. Hyper Racer's Dean Crooke took third, before Strik and Stasi doubled up in race two to finish first and second again. This time, it was points leader Smith who took the final podium spot. Race three saw another unchallenged victory for Strik, with Stasi continuing his streak in second and Crooke also returning to the podium. Race four also brought no change to the top two positions as series rookie Rocco Spinley took third for LeMans Entertainment. A spin and a retirement for Strik in the final race finally handed victory to another driver, as Catlin took it ahead of Stasi, who was now second in the standings, 120 points behind Smith.
Championship leader Smith withdrew his entry for round five at Sydney Motorsport Park, which began with pole position for Strik, but a spin at the first turn of the opening race saw him finish the first race in eleventh. The win in went to Carbon Racing's Kalen Chin in just his second race weekend in the category. Stasi took second ahead of Spinley, before Chin doubled up with another victory in race two, again ahead of Stasi, with SimworX Simulators driver Luke Klaver third. In race three, Stasi was able to get ahead of Chin to break his streak of second places with a win, before Strik was able to bounce back with victory in race four. In absence of Smith, Stasi took the championship lead by 69 points.
Championship standings Scoring system Points are awarded as follows: Qualifying position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th Qualifying points30242119171513119876543 Race position1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th Race points604842403836343230282624222018Race position16th17th18th19th20th21st22nd23rd24th25th26th27th28th29th30thRace points1614121098765432111 The worst weekend points-wise for each driver will be dropped to form the final score.
Drivers' championship PosDriverBENCAL1ONESYDWINCAL2PtsR1R2R3R4R1R2R3R4R1R2R3R4R5R1R2R3R4R1R2R3R4R1R2R3R41Lucas Stasi664WDWD112842222222221Ret464459282Bradley Smith3322124111433545WDWDWDWD222748793Harry Strik215Ret5WDWDWDWD11111Ret1111241111118744Zachary Catlin459Ret632545786761831165343RetWD7725Rocco Spinley11107Ret477432Ret6743837854998567586Brenton Davey91269Ret43323109118879898Ret7871096967Jack Lewis10810489666891010131111411410101012119116878Justin Yuen54333WDWDWDWD8128910RetDNS67712656335919Kalen Chin65967414123Ret352257710Dean Crooke58RetRet634435355532WDWDWDWD49111Christopher Carydias131311Ret9121089712131312RetRet1314141411Ret1010Ret844612Stephen Donnellan1411Ret87DNS1311131311121013961269743813Chris Peters1515135RetRet97514141313128811981041414Josh Gardiner8987Ret575Ret96101010116WDWDWDWD38815Hamish Leighton77126210129101027516Damon Sterling1211Ret20417Peter NowlanDNS1079DNSDNS111410DNS12WDWD19018Ashwin Dyall1114Ret14121212151513Ret16519Terry Knowles1214WDWDWD811111211WDWDWDWD14320Luke Klaver79315913321Royce Lyne57Ret6712122Rob Summons111312131210123Aaron ImbachWDWDWDWD6514RetRet73—Rory McKercherWDWDWDWD0PosDriverR1R2R3R4R1R2R3R4R1R2R3R4R5R1R2R3R4R1R2R3R4R1R2R3R4PtsBENCAL1ONESYDWINCAL2Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap
1 2 ... 15 – points-paying qualifying positions
† – Driver did not finish the race,but was classified
References
External links Australian Drivers Championship