The 2008 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title which was contested concurrently with the 2008 Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship. The championship winner was awarded the 2008 CAMS Gold Star. The 2008 championship was the 52nd Australian Drivers' Championship and the fourth to be contested with open wheel racing cars constructed in accordance with FIA Formula 3 regulations. The season began on 3 February 2008 at Eastern Creek Raceway and finished on 21 September at Symmons Plains Raceway after eight rounds across four different states with two races per round.
Contents
The series was won by a British driver for the second time in three years, with James Winslow victorious after a season long battle with Leanne Tander, who was runner up by only a few points for the second year in a row. Chris Gilmour won the National Class from Irish driver Lee Farrell, while Andrew Mill clinched the Trophy Class with a round in hand.
Class structure
Drivers competed in three classes:
Points system
Championship points were awarded on a 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1 basis to the top ten classified finishers in the Championship Class in each race. An additional point was awarded to the driver gaining the Championship Class pole position for each race and a further additional point was awarded to the driver setting the fastest lap in the Championship class in each race. To secure the "fastest lap" point the driver must have been declared finisher for that race.
The same point-score system was also used for both the National Class and the Trophy Class.
Teams and drivers
The following teams and drivers competed during the 2008 Australian Formula 3 season. The listing relates to both the 2008 Australian Drivers' Championship and to the non-championship Indy F3 Challenge races.
'* - John Martin, Zahir Ali, Carlos Huertas & Jonathan Grant contested the non-championship Indy F3 Challenge races but did not contest rounds of the 2008 Australian Drivers' Championship.
Drivers championship
Note: Race 2 of Round 1 was abandoned due to torrential rain and no points were awarded.
Indy F3 Challenge
The Indy F3 Challenge was a three race support event for Australian Formula 3 cars at the 2008 Nikon Indy 300 meeting at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit. It was not a round of the 2008 Australian Drivers’ Championship.