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 The Australian Drivers' Championship was a motor racing championship contested annually from 1957 to 2014 by drivers of cars complying with Australia's premier open-wheeler racing category as determined by the Confederation of Australian Motor ...

and the sixth to be contested with open wheel racing cars constructed in accordance with FIA

Formula 3 Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One driv ...

regulations. The season began on 7 March 2010 at the

Wakefield Park Wakefield Park Raceway was a motor racing circuit located near Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia. It is named after Charles Wakefield, the founder of Castrol. The founders of Wakefield Park, John Carter and amateur racer and former ...

and finished on 24 October at

Sandown Raceway Sandown International Raceway is a motor racing circuit in the suburb of Springvale in Melbourne, Victoria, approximately south east of the city centre. Sandown is considered a power circuit with its " drag strip" front and back straights be ...

after seven rounds across four different states with three races at each round. Heading into the final round of the series, British

Team BRM Team BRM, formerly known as Bronte Rundle Motorsport, is an open-wheel motor racing team in Australia. The team have competed in Australian Formula 3 for over a decade winning several titles, including the Australian Drivers' Championship. The ...

driver Ben Barker led the championship over New Zealand teammate

Mitch Evans Mitchell William Evans (born 24 June 1994) is a New Zealand professional racing driver. He currently drives for the Jaguar TCS Racing team in Formula E. In 2012, he won the GP3 Series and he raced in the GP2 Series for four years, achieving ...

. 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 Symmons Plains Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Australia, located about south of Launceston, Tasmania. Since the closure of the Longford circuit in the 1960s it has been Tasmania's premier motor racing facility. The circuit is one of th ...

round due to a

Formula Abarth Formula Abarth was an open wheel racing series based in Italy and Europe aimed at karting graduates. The inaugural season was in 2010, effectively replacing the Formula Azzurra. Abarth have taken over the supporting Project Youth initiative, tha ...

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 Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom with the resort of Shanklin to the south and the settlement of Lake, Isle of Wight, Lake in between. Together ...

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 Tim Macrow (born 13 May 1984 in Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian racing driver. He has competed in Australian Formula 3 and Porsche Supercup, winning the Australian Drivers' Championship twice in the former category. In 2019, Macrow raced ...

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 201
As archived at www.webcitation.org on 9 November 2010
/ref> 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
/ref> 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:

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 Winton Motor Raceway is a motor racing track in Winton, near Benalla, Victoria, Australia. History The Benalla Auto Club began planning for a permanent racing track around 1958, as a replacement for their existing track at Barjarg. In 1960 it ...

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.

Drivers Championship

References

External links

Official Australian Formula 3 website

2010 Championship standings
as archived at www.webcitation.org on 9 November 2010 {{Australian Formula 3 Seasons Australian Drivers' Championship Drivers' Championship Australian Formula 3 seasons

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...