2010 Australian Drivers' Championship
# 2010 Australian Drivers' Championship

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).

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, 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.

| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Pole Position | Fastest Lap |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Races 1 & 2 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 (R1 only) | 1 |
| Race 3 | 20 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |

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:

| Team | Class | Chassis | Engine | No | Driver |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Astuti Motorsport | Gold Star | Dallara F307 | Mugen-Honda | 2 | Mat Sofi |
| Astuti Motorsport | Gold Star | Dallara F307 | Sodemo-Renault | 11 | Kristian Lindbom Nicholas Foster |
| Team BRM | Gold Star | Dallara F307 | HWA-Mercedes-Benz | 3 | Zhang Shan Qi |
| Team BRM | Gold Star | Dallara F307 | HWA-Mercedes-Benz | 4 | Mitch Evans Andrew Waite |
| Team BRM | Gold Star | Dallara F307 | HWA-Mercedes-Benz | 5 | Ben Barker |
| R-Tek Motorsport | National | Dallara F304 | Spiess-Opel | 7 | John Magro Tom Drewer Martin Short Bryce Moore |
| R-Tek Motorsport | National | Dallara F304 | Spiess-Opel | 8 | Josh Burdon Joshua Hunt Nathan Morcom |
| R-Tek Motorsport | National | Dallara F301 | Spiess-Opel | 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 series 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 |
| 1 | 2 | Wakefield Park | 7 March | Mitch Evans | Ben Crighton | Mitch Evans | Team BRM |
| 1 | 3 | Wakefield Park | 7 March | Mitch Evans | Mitch Evans | Mitch Evans | Team BRM |
| 2 | 4 | Symmons Plains Raceway | 10 April | Ben Barker | Kristian Lindbom | Tom Tweedie | Team Tom |
| 2 | 5 | Symmons Plains Raceway | 11 April | Ben Barker | Kristian Lindbom | Andrew Waite | Team BRM |
| 2 | 6 | Symmons Plains Raceway | 11 April | Ben Barker | Tom Tweedie | Tom Tweedie | Team Tom |
| 3 | 7 | Phillip Island | 1 May | Mitch Evans | Ben Barker | Mitch Evans | Team BRM |
| 3 | 8 | Phillip Island | 2 May | Mitch Evans | Ben Barker | Mitch Evans | Team BRM |
| 3 | 9 | Phillip Island | 2 May | Mitch Evans | Mitch Evans | Mitch Evans | Team BRM |
| 4 | 10 | Mallala Motor Sport Park | 29 May | Mitch Evans | Ben Barker | Ben Barker | Team BRM |
| 4 | 11 | Mallala Motor Sport Park | 30 May | Mitch Evans | Ben Barker | Ben Barker | Team BRM |
| 4 | 12 | Mallala Motor Sport Park | 30 May | Mitch Evans | Ben Barker | Ben Barker | Team BRM |
| 5 | 13 | Morgan Park Raceway | 14 August | Mitch Evans | Ben Barker | Ben Barker | Team BRM |
| 5 | 14 | Morgan Park Raceway | 15 August | Mitch Evans | Mitch Evans | Tom Tweedie | Team Tom |
| 5 | 15 | Morgan Park Raceway | 15 August | Mitch Evans | Mitch Evans | Ben Barker | Team BRM |
| 6 | 16 | Eastern Creek Raceway | 11 September | Mitch Evans | Ben Barker | Mitch Evans | Team BRM |
| 6 | 17 | Eastern Creek Raceway | 12 September | Mitch Evans | Ben Barker | Mitch Evans | Team BRM |
| 6 | 18 | Eastern Creek Raceway | 12 September | Mitch Evans | Ben Barker | Ben Barker | Team BRM |
| 7 | 19 | Sandown Raceway | 23 October | Tim Macrow | Mitch Evans | Tim Macrow | PHR Scuderia |
| 7 | 20 | Sandown Raceway | 24 October | Tim Macrow | Red flag: Race cancelled | Red flag: Race cancelled | Red flag: Race cancelled |
| 7 | 21 | Sandown Raceway | 24 October | Tim Macrow | Ben Barker | Tim Macrow | PHR Scuderia |

### Drivers Championship

| Pos | Driver | WAK 1 | WAK 2 | WAK 3 | SYM 1 | SYM 2 | SYM 3 | PHI 1 | PHI 2 | PHI 3 | MAL 1 | MAL 2 | MAL 3 | MOR 1 | MOR 2 | MOR 3 | EAS 1 | EAS 2 | EAS 3 | SAN 1 | SAN 3 | 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 |
| 10 | 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 |
| 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 |
| 22 | Nicholas 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 |
| 8 | 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 |
| 12 | 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 |
| 9 | 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 |
| 16 | Nicholas Foster | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 9 | 10 | Ret | | | 3 |
| Colour | Result |
| Gold | Winner |
| Silver | Second place |
| Bronze | Third place |
| Green | Points finish |
| Blue | Non-points finish |
| Blue | Non-classified finish (NC) |
| Purple | Retired (Ret) |
| Red | Did not qualify (DNQ) |
| Red | Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) |
| Black | Disqualified (DSQ) |
| White | Did not start (DNS) |
| White | Withdrew (WD) |
| White | Race cancelled (C) |
| Blank | Did not practice (DNP) |
| Blank | Did not arrive (DNA) |
| Blank | Excluded (EX) |
