The 2023 Australian Formula Open - powered by Racefuels was a multi-event open-wheel single seater motor racing championship. This was the inaugural season of the championship, founded by two-time Australian Gold Star winner Tim Macrow as a direct successor to the Australian Formula 3 championship.[1]

Drivers competed to win a S5000 test and free entry to a race in the S5000 Championship in 2024 or later.[2]

Trent Grubel, driving for Tim Macrow Racing, won the overall championship and with it the AFO1 class championship, three points ahead of his teammate Ryan How. Matthew Roesler, driving for his privateer State Fleet Services team, won the AFO2 class championship, while AGI Sport's Kristian Janev was victorious in the AFO4 class.

Teams and drivers

The championship was structured in four classes, albeit only three classes received entries through the season. AFO1 encompassed all Formula 3 machinery, with several chassis and engine manufacturers represented. AFO2 catered to Toyota Racing Series, Formula Renault and older F3 cars. AFO3 served all other invitational entries, but did not receive any entries, while AFO4 was reserved for Formula 4 cars.[3][4]

AFO1 entries

Team No. Car Driver Rounds
Gilmour Racing 1 Dallara F308/11 Mercedes-Benz Australia Daniel Price 1
Australia Jon Collins 2, 4–5
Australia Kyle Evans 6
17 Dallara F307 Australia Chris Gilmour 4–5
R-Tek Motorsport Services 2 Dallara F307 Opel Australia Andrew Roberts 1–3, 6
Genesis Offices 4 Dallara F308 Australia Robert Rowe 6
Sydney Photo Booth 5 Dallara F304 Renault Australia Lawrence Katsidis 6
23 1–2
Tim Macrow Racing 8 Dallara F308/11 Australia Miles Bromley 2–4
9 5–6
22 Dallara F308/11 Mercedes-Benz Australia Beau Russell 5–6
Australia Winston Van Laarhoven 1, 3–4
24 2
27 Dallara F308/11 Mercedes-Benz Australia Ryan How All
74 Dallara F312 Mercedes-Benz Australia Trent Grubel All
Ruff Racing 9 Mygale M11 Australia Gerrit Ruff 2
11 6
TWS Motorsport 14 Mygale M11 Australia Trent Shirvington 2–3, 5
Formula Race Car Association 17 Dallara F397 Volkswagen Australia Shayne Morrow 1–2, 6
41 Dallara F307 Opel Australia Greg Muddle 1–2
48 Dallara F3 Australia Ron Coath 2
55 Dallara F397 Australia Glenn Lynch 1–2
CO Machining 21 Dallara F304 Opel Australia Graeme Holmes 1–2
Baker Motorsport / Team Penrite 22 Dallara F399 Australia Rodney Baker 2, 6
CPL 37 Dallara F3 Australia Ben Turner 2
Team Rod Anderson 38 Reynard 893 Toyota Australia Rod Anderson 1–2
Douglas Barry Specials 56 Reynard 92D Holden Australia Douglas Barry 1–2, 6
99 Motorsport 99 Dallara F308/11 Volkswagen Australia Ryan Astley All
Sources:[5][6][7][8][9][10]

AFO2 entries

Team No. Car Driver Rounds
State Fleet Services 3 Tatuus FT50 Australia Matthew Roesler 2
4 3, 5
AON Investments Pty Ltd 19 Ralt RT4 Australia Arthur Abrahams 6
TCM Race Services 53 Tatuus FT50 Australia Matthew Woodland 3
AGI Sport 60 Tatuus F4 Australia Jayden Ojeda 2
Jetforms.com.au 93 Tatuus FT50 Australia Christopher Slusarski 3, 6
DiBiase Carpentry 127 Tatuus FT50 Australia Paul di Biase 2–3, 6
Sources:[5][6][7][9][10]

AFO4 entries

Team No. Car Driver Rounds
AGI Sport 6 Mygale M14-F4 Australia Brodie Norris 2–6
40 Mygale M14-F4 Ford Australia Tim Boydle 1
62 Tatuus F4-T014 Fiat United Kingdom Craig McLatchey 1
66 Mygale M14-F4 Ford Australia Kristian Janev 2–6
77 1
Mygale M14-F4 Australia Peter Bouzinelos 4–6
7 Mygale M14-F4 Ford Australia Mark Wilson 6
71 1–2
Tim Macrow Racing 16 Mygale M14-F4 Ford Australia Hanming Huang 1, 3–6
25 Mygale M14-F4 Australia Thomas Gallagher 4–6
RMS Racing Cheetah Mk7 Australia Robert Sviderskas 2
Patrizi Corse 21 Mygale M14-F4 Australia Ryan McMillan 4–6
Formula Race Car Association 51 Tatuus Australia Nathan Beer 1–2, 6
Sources:[5][6][7][8][9][10]

Race calendar

The 2023 calendar was first announced on 20 December 2022. It consisted of six rounds across six circuits all over Australia.[11]

Round Circuit Date Support bill Map of circuit locations
1 R1 Victoria (state) Winton Motor Raceway
Winton, Victoria		 4 March NSW Formula Vee Championship
NSW Formula Ford Championship
NSW State Championships
R2 5 March
R3
2 R1 New South Wales Sydney Motorsport Park
Eastern Creek, New South Wales		 15 April NSW Formula Vee Championship
Australian Formula Ford Championship
NSW Formula Ford Championship
NSW State Championships
R2 16 April
R3
3 R1 South Australia The Bend Motorsport Park
Tailem Bend, South Australia		 10 June Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia
Australian Prototype Series
South Australia Tin Tops
BMW Drivers Cup
R2 11 June
R3
4 R1 Queensland Queensland Raceway
Willowbank, Queensland		 5 August Motorsport Australia Trophy Series
TGR Australia Scholarship Series
National Sports Sedan Series
Radical Cup Australia
R2 6 August
R3
5 R1 Victoria (state) Sandown Raceway
Melbourne, Victoria		 9 September TCR Australia Touring Car Series
V8 Touring Car Series
Trans-Am Series
GT4 Australia Series
R2 10 September
R3
6 R1 Victoria (state) Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
Ventnor, Victoria		 25 November Island Magic
Historic Touring Car Series
Australian Formula Vee
NSW Formula Car Championship
R2
R3 26 November

Race results

Round Circuit Pole position Fastest lap AFO1 winner AFO2 winner AFO4 winner
1 R1 Victoria (state) Winton Motor Raceway
Winton, Victoria		 Australia Trent Grubel Australia Trent Grubel Australia Trent Grubel no entries Australia Kristian Janev
R2 Australia Trent Grubel Australia Trent Grubel Australia Kristian Janev
R3 Australia Trent Grubel Australia Trent Grubel Australia Kristian Janev
2 R1 New South Wales Sydney Motorsport Park
Eastern Creek, New South Wales		 Australia Trent Grubel race declared a non-event after multiple crashes at the start[12]
R2 Australia Trent Grubel Australia Trent Grubel Australia Matthew Roesler Australia Brodie Norris
R3 Australia Trent Grubel Australia Trent Grubel Australia Paul di Biase Australia Kristian Janev
3 R1 South Australia The Bend Motorsport Park
Tailem Bend, South Australia		 Australia Trent Grubel Australia Trent Grubel Australia Ryan How Australia Christopher Slusarski Australia Brodie Norris
R2 Australia Ryan How Australia Ryan How Australia Christopher Slusarski Australia Brodie Norris
R3 Australia Ryan How Australia Ryan How Australia Christopher Slusarski Australia Brodie Norris
4 R1 Queensland Queensland Raceway
Willowbank, Queensland		 Australia Ryan How Australia Miles Bromley Australia Trent Grubel no entries Australia Brodie Norris
R2 Australia Ryan How Australia Trent Grubel Australia Brodie Norris
R3 Australia Trent Grubel Australia Ryan How Australia Peter Bouzinelous
5 R1 Victoria (state) Sandown Raceway
Melbourne, Victoria		 Australia Ryan How Australia Trent Grubel Australia Ryan How no classified finishers Australia Brodie Norris
R2 Australia Trent Grubel Australia Ryan How Australia Matthew Roesler Australia Brodie Norris
R3 Australia Ryan How Australia Trent Grubel Australia Matthew Roesler Australia Kristian Janev
6 R1 Victoria (state) Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
Ventnor, Victoria		 Australia Trent Grubel Australia Trent Grubel Australia Ryan How Australia Ryan McMillan Australia Christopher Slusarski
R2 Australia Ryan How Australia Ryan How Australia Ryan McMillan Australia Paul di Biase
R3 Australia Ryan How Australia Ryan How Australia Ryan McMillan Australia Paul di Biase

Season report

The inaugural Australian Formula Open series kicked off at Winton Motor Raceway. A conjoined grid with the NSW Formula Car Championship saw 19 entries tackle the weekend, and Tim Macrow Racing's Trent Grubel took pole position for the first race. He converted that to a win ahead of his teammates Winston van Laarhoven and Ryan How. Grubel went on to sweep the weekend, with the podiums of both other races completed by 99 Motorsport's Ryan Astley and How. AGI Sport's Kristian Janev also took a triple win in the AFO4 class to take the class lead ahead of his teammate Mark Wilson.

Round two was held at Sydney Motorsports Park, again in conjunction with the NSW FCC. Grubel was once again on pole position for the first encounter, but multiple crashes at the race start led to the race being abandoned and later declared a non-event. Grubel was undeterred by that and went on to win the other two races, remaining as the only AFO1 winner of the season. How took both second places, with Gilmour Racing's debutant Jon Collings taking two third places. Janev and his debuting teammate Brodie Norris shared wins in AFO4, while the AFO2 class also took off, with privateer entries Matthew Roesler and Paul di Biase taking the honors.

The first half of the season closed at The Bend Motorsport Park. Grubel continued his pole position streak, but the formbook for the races was rewritten: How became the second race winner in the series as he was the fastest driver throughout all three races to sweep the weekend. Grubel held on to second ahead of Astley in races one and three, but only managed to finish fourth in the second race, with his teammate Miles Bromley third behind Astley. Brodie Norris continued his run of form to sweep the weekend in AFO4 and shorten his gap to Janev. Debutant Christopher Slusarski won all thee races in AFO2, while class leader Di Biase did not finish any of the races.

Queensland Raceway was up next, and How ended Grubel's pole position streak. He dropped to third in the first race though, allowing Grubel to take the win and Chris Gilmour, debuting for the eponymous team, into second. The second race proved even worse for How, as a bad start saw him drop off the podium and allowed Bromley onto it. How was back on top for the feature race though, but Grubel still extended his points lead. AFO2 saw no entries for the round, while AFO4 class leader Janev had an atrocious weekend with a retirement in the first race not allowing him to take part in the rest of the weekend. The chasing Norris took two wins and his teammate Peter Bouzinelous claimed one.[13]

How took a second pole position at the penultimate round at Sandown Raceway. Him and Grubel finished 1-2 in the first two races, with Grubel taking both fastest laps to minimize the damage to his points lead. Their positions were flipped for the final race, but How still reduced Grubel's advantage to 20 points. Bromley took two more podiums to get closer to third place, with TWS Motorsport's Trent Shirvington also appearing on the rostrum. Roesler was the only entrant in the AFO2 class, so he took two more wins to extend his lead, while Norris and Janev continued their tussle in the AFO4 class, with Norris taking two wins to reduce Janev's lead to only three points.[14]

How needed a perfect final weekend at Phillip Island to deny Grubel the title, and did everything he could by winning all three races and taking two bonus points for fastest laps. Grubel could only manage second, third and fourth in the races. Crucially though, he was able to take pole position and claim the fastest lap for the first race. That saw him take the overall and the AFO1 title by three points. Bromley took three podiums to narrowly secure third ahead of Astley. Both AFO2 and AFO4 were decided in absence of the champions, with Roesler taking the AFO2 crown and both Janev and Norris absent from AFO4 competition, allowing Janev to claim the title.[15]

Opening up competition to more classes of formula cars proved to be a huge success, as the series' meetings regularly attracted deep grids. While competition in AFO1 and AFO4 initially seemed to be rather lacklustre, How and Norris were able to close up to the respective leaders Grubel and Janev to provide two close championship battles. With the series planned to be expanding in both round numbers and national and international coverage in 2024, the only question left open is if the championship will really be able to serve as a feeder series to higher-level competition.

Standings

Scoring system

Cars classified as finished in race 1 and 2 were awarded points by the following structure:[16]

Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th   FL   R1 PP 
Points 12 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1 1

The third race of the weekend, the longer Feature Race, awarded more points:[16]

Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th   FL 
Points 20 15 12 10 8 6 4 3 2 1 1

Overall standings

Pos Driver WIN
Victoria (state)		 SYD
New South Wales		 BEN
South Australia		 QLD
Queensland		 SAN
Victoria (state)		 PHI
Victoria (state)		 Pts
R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3
1 Australia Trent Grubel 1 1 1 C 1 1 2 4 2 1 1 2 2 2 1 2 3 4 225
2 Australia Ryan How 3 3 3 C 2 2 1 1 1 3 4 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 222
3 Australia Miles Bromley C 7 5 4 3 10 4 2 3 5 3 3 3 2 2 117
4 Australia Ryan Astley 4 2 2 C 4 6 3 2 3 5 Ret Ret 4 4 Ret 6 5 5 112
5 Australia Winston Van Laarhoven 2 4 4 C 5 4 5 9 5 7 6 4 77
6 Australia Beau Russell 6 DNS 4 4 4 3 41
7 Australia Brodie Norris C 8 Ret 8 6 6 8 7 8 7 5 7 DNS DNS DNS 41
8 Australia Jon Collins C 3 3 6 5 5 DNS DNS DNS 39
9 Australia Trent Shirvington C 13 Ret 6 5 4 3 9 5 39
10 Australia Andrew Roberts 5 5 5 C 6 7 Ret DNS DNS 9 9 7 37
11 Australia Kristian Janev 6 6 7 C 11 10 11 8 8 Ret DNS DNS 10 6 6 DNS DNS DNS 33
12 Australia Chris Gilmour 2 3 6 DNS DNS DNS 23
13 Australia Kyle Evans 5 6 6 17
14 Australia Ryan McMillan 9 9 9 DNS DNS DNS 7 7 8 17
15 Australia Thomas Gallagher 12 Ret 10 8 7 8 13 10 9 14
16 Australia Lawrence Katsidis 8 8 6 C DNS DNS 16 Ret 13 12
17 Australia Christopher Slusarski 7 7 7 11 13 Ret 12
18 Australia Douglas Barry 14 15 13 C 9 8 8 8 12 11
19 Australia Hanming Huang 11 10 8 10 11 12 11 10 11 9 10 9 15 14 14 11
20 Australia Matthew Roesler C 16 Ret 9 10 9 Ret 8 10 9
21 Australia Graeme Holmes 7 7 DNS C DNS DNS 8
22 Australia Peter Bouzinelous 10 8 7 Ret 11 Ret DNS DNS DNS 8
23 Australia Rodney Baker C 10 9 10 11 10 5
24 Australia Mark Wilson 10 9 10 C 19 14 14 15 Ret 4
25 United Kingdom Craig McLatchey 9 11 DNS 2
26 Australia Rod Anderson 12 13 9 C 18 15 2
27 Australia Matthew Woodland 12 12 11 0
28 Australia Tim Boydle 15 12 11 0
29 Australia Greg Muddle Ret DNS Ret C Ret 11 0
30 Australia Ben Turner C 12 12 0
31 Australia Nathan Beer 16 16 12 C 20 17 17 16 15 0
32 Australia Paul di Biase C 17 16 Ret Ret Ret 12 12 11 0
33 Australia Shayne Morrow 13 14 Ret C 15 Ret Ret DNS DNS 0
34 Australia Glenn Lynch DNS DNS DNS C 14 13 0
— Australia Gerrit Ruff C DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS —
— Australia Daniel Price DNS DNS DNS —
— Australia Robert Rowe DNS DNS DNS —
— Australia Arthur Abrahams DNS DNS DNS —
— Australia Ron Coath C DNS DNS —
— Australia Robert Sviderskas C DNS DNS —
— Australia Jayden Ojeda C DNS DNS —
Pos Driver R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 Pts
WIN
Victoria (state)		 SYD
New South Wales		 BEN
South Australia		 QLD
Queensland		 SAN
Victoria (state)		 PHI
Victoria (state)

Standings by class

Pos Driver WIN
Victoria (state)		 SYD
New South Wales		 BEN
South Australia		 QLD
Queensland		 SAN
Victoria (state)		 PHI
Victoria (state)		 Pts
R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3
AFO1 standings
1 Australia Trent Grubel 1 1 1 C 1 1 2 4 2 1 1 2 2 2 1 2 3 4 225
2 Australia Ryan How 3 3 3 C 2 2 1 1 1 3 4 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 222
3 Australia Miles Bromley C 7 5 4 3 6 4 2 3 5 3 3 3 2 2 120
4 Australia Ryan Astley 4 2 2 C 4 6 3 2 3 5 Ret Ret 4 4 Ret 6 5 5 107
5 Australia Winston Van Laarhoven 2 4 4 C 5 4 5 6 5 7 6 4 80
6 Australia Trent Shirvington C 11 Ret 6 5 4 3 5 5 43
7 Australia Beau Russell 6 DNS 4 4 4 3 41
8 Australia Andrew Roberts 5 5 5 C 6 7 Ret DNS DNS 7 8 7 40
9 Australia Jon Collins C 3 3 6 5 5 DNS DNS DNS 39
10 Australia Chris Gilmour 2 3 6 DNS DNS DNS 23
11 Australia Douglas Barry 10 10 8 C 8 8 6 7 9 23
12 Australia Kyle Evans 5 6 6 17
13 Australia Lawrence Katsidis 7 7 6 C DNS DNS 9 Ret 10 17
14 Australia Rodney Baker C 9 9 8 9 8 12
15 Australia Graeme Holmes 6 6 DNS C DNS DNS 10
16 Australia Rod Anderson 8 8 7 C 14 13 10
17 Australia Shayne Morrow 9 9 Ret C 13 Ret Ret DNS DNS 4
18 Australia Ben Turner C 10 11 1
19 Australia Greg Muddle Ret DNS Ret C Ret 10 1
20 Australia Glenn Lynch DNS DNS DNS C 12 12 0
— Australia Gerrit Ruff C DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS —
— Australia Daniel Price DNS DNS DNS —
— Australia Robert Rowe DNS DNS DNS —
— Australia Ron Coath C DNS DNS —
AFO2 standings
1 Australia Matthew Roesler C 1 Ret 2 2 2 Ret 1 1 83
2 Australia Christopher Slusarski 1 1 1 1 2 Ret 72
3 Australia Paul di Biase C 2 1 Ret Ret Ret 2 1 1 72
4 Australia Matthew Woodland 3 3 3 28
— Australia Jayden Ojeda C DNS DNS —
— Australia Arthur Abrahams DNS DNS DNS —
AFO4 standings
1 Australia Kristian Janev 1 1 1 C 2 1 3 2 2 Ret DNS DNS 4 2 1 DNS DNS DNS 139
2 Australia Brodie Norris C 1 Ret 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 DNS DNS DNS 136
3 Australia Hanming Huang 4 3 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 3 4 4 4 3 3 133
4 Australia Thomas Gallagher 5 Ret 4 2 3 3 2 2 2 80
5 Australia Ryan McMillan 2 3 3 DNS DNS DNS 1 1 1 77
6 Australia Mark Wilson 3 2 3 C 3 2 3 4 Ret 67
7 Australia Nathan Beer 6 6 5 C 4 3 5 5 4 59
8 Australia Peter Bouzinelos 3 2 1 Ret 5 Ret DNS DNS DNS 44
9 Australia Tim Boydle 5 5 4 22
10 United Kingdom Craig McLatchey 2 4 DNS 16
— Australia Robert Sviderskas C DNS DNS —
Pos Driver R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 Pts
WIN
Victoria (state)		 SYD
New South Wales		 BEN
South Australia		 QLD
Queensland		 SAN
Victoria (state)		 PHI
Victoria (state)

References

  1. ↑ "Australian Formula Open Calendar confirmed – The Race Torque". Retrieved 2022-12-21.
  2. ↑ richardrt (2023-01-18). "S5000, Australian Formula Open announce prize package". S5000. Retrieved 2023-01-19.
  3. ↑ Herrero, Daniel (2022-11-23). "New 'Formula Open' wings and slicks category to debut". Speedcafe. Retrieved 2022-12-21.
  4. ↑ "Australian Formula Open season launches at Winton – The Race Torque". Retrieved 2023-03-02.
  5. 1 2 3 "NSW Motorsport Australia State Championship". Winton Motor Raceway. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  6. 1 2 3 "NSW Motor Race Championship 15 April 2023 - 16 April 2023: Acceptance List" (PDF).
  7. 1 2 3 "SAMS featuring Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia - THE BEND MOTORSPORT PARK - 2023 Australian Formula Open Series - Practice 2". Natsoft Race Results.
  8. 1 2 "Australian Formula Open on facebook: "Times for Practice 2:"".
  9. 1 2 3 "2023 Shannons Speed Series - Round 6 SANDOWN INTERNATIONAL MOTOR RACEWAY - Formula Open - Qualifying".
  10. 1 2 3 "Island Magic 2023". piarc.com.au. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  11. ↑ "New Formula Open category published 2023 calendar - UK Sports News". 2022-12-20. Retrieved 2022-12-21.
  12. ↑ "Race 1 has been declared a non-event due to several accidents on the startline and no laps turned under green conditions. Drivers have been assisted and are okay". Australian Formula Open on facebook. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  13. ↑ O'Brien, Garry (2023-08-06). "Formula Open round to Grubel, wins shared in Excels". Speedcafe.com. Retrieved 2023-12-04.
  14. ↑ "How closes gap ahead of AFO season finale". Retrieved 2023-12-04.
  15. ↑ "Grubel holds on for AFO title". Retrieved 2023-12-04.
  16. 1 2 Wood, Ida (2023-03-11). "The story behind Australian racing's slicks-and-wings survival route". Formula Scout. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
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