The 2011 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title with the championship winner receiving the 2011 CAMS Gold Star award. It was the 55th

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 seventh to be contested with open wheel racing cars constructed in accordance with FIA Formula 3 regulations. It was also recognised as the 11th Australian Formula 3 Championship. The championship was contested over a series which was officially known as the "2011 Australian Formula 3 Drivers Championship for the CAMS Gold Star".2011 Australian Formula 3 Championship Sporting and Technical Regulations
Retrieved on 23 July 201
As archived at www.webcitation.org on 29 May 2011
/ref> The series began on 21 March 2011 at

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 i ...

and finished on 13 November at

Symmons Plains Raceway 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 the ...

after seven rounds across five different states and territories, with three races at each round. The championship was won by Queensland driver Chris Gilmour. Gilmour moved into the series lead when British racer and 2008 champion

James Winslow James Winslow (born 16 April 1983) is a British professional car racing driver who races at Le Mans 24 Hours. A ten-time Motorsport champion member of the British Racing Drivers' Club, he competes in Europe, Australia & Asia in Le Mans LMP & GT ...

missed the Morgan Park round. Winslow returned to the series at the next event. He won a total of eight races to Gilmour's six, but had given away a points lead to Gilmour he would never regain, ultimately falling eight points short of the winners total. Gilmour is the first Australian driver to win the championship since 2007 after three consecutive years of British drivers claiming the title. John Magro, also from Queensland, was the only driver of the 2007 generation cars apart from Gilmour to contest the full series and was rewarded with third place in the championship, but was 32 points behind Gilmour and achieved only one race win. Occasional racer Mat Sofi dominated the Eastern Creek round with three race wins while 2007 champion

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 ra ...

won the final race of the season in his older, 2004 specification Dallara. Four other drivers contested the full series in the older National Class cars in which they also competed for their own class award. As in the outright championship, the National Class winner was not decided until the final race of the season. However the spoiling presence of Macrow limited the number of points Ben Gersekowski could retrieve in his fight with Steel Guiliana, and the latter ultimately claimed the National Class award by seven points. Tasmanian driver Josh Burdon was over sixty points behind Guiliana with Roman Krumins a further twelve points in arrears.

Class structure

Cars competed in two classes: * 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 2007 * 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 An additional Invitation Class, for automobiles constructed in accordance with the appropriate regulations that applied in the year of manufacture, was provided for in the regulations, however no eligible cars competed during the course of the season.

Points System

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 using the same points system as applied for the outright championship, but based on their relative finishing position within their class in each race.

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers contested the 2011 Australian Drivers' Championship. Entries sourced in part from:

Race calendar

The championship was contested over a seven-round series.About:2011 calendar
Retrieved on 20 May 2011 A long-time bastion of the

Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships The Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships is a series of motor racing events held across five states of Australia. It was first held as the CAMS National Racing Championships in 2006 and adopted its present name the following year when it g ...

the 2011 season saw the Gold Star shift several events onto the

International V8 Supercars Championship The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport. Supercars events take place in all Australian ...

calendar, after occasional appearances at the

Clipsal 500 The Adelaide 500 (also known as the VALO Adelaide 500 for sponsorship reasons) is an annual motor racing event for Supercars held on the streets of the east end of Adelaide, South Australia between 1999 to 2020 and again from 2022. It is someti ...

and other major events. The series appeared on the program of V8 Supercar rounds at Winton, Symmons Plains, and, in a first for the category, Hidden Valley Raceway in the Northern Territory.

Results

Drivers' championship

Note: Race 3 at the opening round at Winton was cancelled due to heavy rain. Note: There were no competitors in the Invitation Class at any of the seven rounds.

References

External links

Official Australian Formula 3 website
{{Australian Formula 3 Seasons Australian Drivers' Championship Drivers' Championship Australian Formula 3 seasons Australia