2025 Australian Drivers' Championship

2025 Australian Drivers' Championship

Drivers' Champion: Damon Sterlin
Masters' Champion: Hamish Leighton

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2024

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2026

Damon Sterling, driving for Ironclad ID, successfully defended his Drivers' Championship title.

The 2025 Hankook Australian Drivers' Championship was a motor racing championship in Australia. It was the second running of the championship created in 2024 when its sanctioning body, the Australian Auto Sport Alliance secured the rights to the Australian Drivers' Championship title dating back to 1957. ^[1] The series was a spec series using the open-wheel Hyper Racer X1.

The 2025 season started on 1 March at Winton Motor Raceway, was run over six race weekends and finished on 2 November at the same venue. ^[2]

Ironclad ID driver Damon Sterling entered the season as the reigning champion and successfully defended his championship title with one round to spare. Stoke Foiling's Hamish Leighton won the Masters' Championship, also clinching it at the penultimate round of the season.

Teams and drivers

All drivers competed with a Hyper Racer X1 car powered by a Suzuki Hayabusa engine on Hankook tires. Drivers aged 40 and above were able take part in the Masters' Australian Drivers’ Championship. ^[3] All teams and drivers were Australian-registered.

Team No. Driver Status Rounds Hyper Racer 2 Dean Crooke All Summons Racing 4 Aaron Imbach 6 12 Rob Summons 1–5 33 Adam Nicolson 1 Kyle Gurton 2–6 59 Ivan Vantagiato 1, 3 Christian Sasso 2 07 Niko French All Omnitude Investments 5 Christopher Carydias M 1–3, 5–6 Pakelo Lubricants Carbon Racing 6 Hayden Crossland All 14 Jack Lewis All 33 Ashwin Dyall 6 Justin Yuen Motorsport 8 Justin Yuen All Stoke Foiling 19 Hamish Leighton M All Controltech Solutions 24 Brenton Davey 1–5 Above All Concrete 25 Josh Gardiner All Ironclad ID 26 Damon Sterling All 27 Bastien Treptel 1–3 Lucas Stasi Racing 34 Lucas Stasi All Activ Digital 38 Zachary Catlin 1–6 SimworX Simulators 48 Luke Klaver 5 Montgomery Haulage / Ringwood Kart Centre 63 Harry Strik 6 Spectre Property 74 Bradley Smith 2–6 Quad Lock 88 Chris Peters M 1, 3–6 Percat Automotive 89 Mitchell McGarry 3–4 RAW Australia Roofing 95 Rory McKercher All Privateer 23 Peter Nowlan M 1–3, 6 41 Anton Zhouk 1–3, 5 Sources: [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Icon Legend M Master

Calendar

The 2025 calendar was announced on 24 December 2024, with a round at One Raceway added a few days later to bring the total up to six events. ^{[2] [10]} The series made its debut at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Round		Circuit	Date	Support Bill	Map of circuit locations
1	R1	Winton Motor Raceway, Winton	1 March	Formula RX8 Australian Super TT Championship Formula Ford: Stars & Renegades Series Legend Car Australia Asphalt Series TA2 Muscle Car Series	Sydney Winton The Bend Calder Park Goulburn
	R2		2 March
	R3
	R4
2	R1	One Raceway, Goulburn	5 April	Clubman Championship Series X3 New South Wales New South Wales MX-5 Cup Motor Racing Australia Super TT Legend Car Australia Asphalt Series Legend Car NSW Asphalt Series
	R2		6 April
	R3
	R4
3	R1	The Bend Motorsport Park, Tailem Bend	3 May	Victorian V8 Series Super Tin Top Racing Victoria 2 Litre Sports Sedan Championship
	R2
	R3		4 May
	R4
4	R1	Sydney Motorsport Park, Eastern Creek	30 May	Formula RX8 Australian Super TT Championship Formula Ford: Stars & Renegades Series Legend Car Australia Asphalt Series TA2 Muscle Car Series Legend Car NSW Asphalt Series
	R2		31 May
	R3
	R4
5	R1	Calder Park Raceway, Melbourne	14 June	Victorian V8 Series Victorian Super TT Championship Hyundai Excel Association of Victoria 2 Litre Sports Sedan Championship
	R2
	R3		15 June
	R4
6	R1	Winton Motor Raceway, Winton	1 November	Formula RX8 Australian Super TT Championship Formula Ford: Stars & Renegades Series Legend Car Australia Asphalt Series TA2 Muscle Car Series
	R2
	R3		2 November
	R4

Race results

Round		Circuit	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team	Masters' winner
1	R1	Winton Motor Raceway	Damon Sterling	Dean Crooke	Damon Sterling	Ironclad ID	Hamish Leighton
	R2			Hayden Crossland	Damon Sterling	Ironclad ID	Hamish Leighton
	R3			Dean Crooke	Hayden Crossland	Pakelo Lubricants Carbon Racing	Hamish Leighton
	R4			Damon Sterling	Hayden Crossland	Pakelo Lubricants Carbon Racing	Hamish Leighton
2	R1	One Raceway	Damon Sterling	Damon Sterling	Damon Sterling	Ironclad ID	Hamish Leighton
	R2			Damon Sterling	Damon Sterling	Ironclad ID	Hamish Leighton
	R3			Bradley Smith	Damon Sterling	Ironclad ID	Hamish Leighton
	R4			Dean Crooke	Damon Sterling	Ironclad ID	Hamish Leighton
3	R1	The Bend Motorsport Park	Damon Sterling	Dean Crooke	Damon Sterling	Ironclad ID	Hamish Leighton
	R2			Damon Sterling	Damon Sterling	Ironclad ID	Hamish Leighton
	R3			Damon Sterling	Damon Sterling	Ironclad ID	Hamish Leighton
	R4			Dean Crooke	Damon Sterling	Ironclad ID	no classified finishers
4	R1	Sydney Motorsport Park	Hayden Crossland	Bradley Smith	Hayden Crossland	Pakelo Lubricants Carbon Racing	Hamish Leighton
	R2			Damon Sterling	Hayden Crossland	Pakelo Lubricants Carbon Racing	Hamish Leighton
	R3			Niko French	Hayden Crossland	Pakelo Lubricants Carbon Racing	Hamish Leighton
	R4			Hayden Crossland	Hayden Crossland	Pakelo Lubricants Carbon Racing	Hamish Leighton
5	R1	Calder Park Raceway	Hayden Crossland	Hayden Crossland	Hayden Crossland	Pakelo Lubricants Carbon Racing	Hamish Leighton
	R2			Damon Sterling	Hayden Crossland	Pakelo Lubricants Carbon Racing	Chris Peters
	R3			Damon Sterling	Damon Sterling	Ironclad ID	Hamish Leighton
	R4			Damon Sterling	Damon Sterling	Ironclad ID	Hamish Leighton
6	R1	Winton Motor Raceway	Damon Sterling	Damon Sterling	Damon Sterling	Ironclad ID	Chris Peters
	R2			Damon Sterling	Damon Sterling	Ironclad ID	Chris Peters
	R3			Lucas Stasi	Damon Sterling	Ironclad ID	Chris Peters
	R4			Damon Sterling	Damon Sterling	Ironclad ID	Peter Nowlan

Championship standings

Scoring system

Points were awarded as follows:

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th	16th	17th	18th	19th
Points	25	20	18	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2

The worst weekend points-wise for each driver was dropped to form the final score.

Drivers' championship

Pos Driver WIN1 ONE BEN SYD CAL WIN2 Pen. Pts R1 R2 R3 R4 R1 R2 R3 R4 R1 R2 R3 R4 R1 R2 R3 R4 R1 R2 R3 R4 R1 R2 R3 R4 1 Damon Sterling 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 (14) (2) (2) (2) 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 480 2 Hayden Crossland 2 2 1 1 (4) (3) (Ret) (Ret) 4 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 Ret DSQ 4 4 2 385 3 Dean Crooke 3 Ret 4 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 7 5 10 9 10 7 (5) (Ret) (12) (10) 326 4 Kyle Gurton 6 6 4 3 3 4 Ret 5 6 7 4 3 3 4 3 2 13 15 10 6 293 5 Bradley Smith 18 7 3 5 11 16 10 6 4 6 5 7 4 3 4 3 4 5 6 5 288 6 Hamish Leighton M 6 5 6 4 11 4 5 4 5 5 4 Ret 2 3 3 6 7 DNS 8 5 (Ret) (11) (11) (11) 286 7 Lucas Stasi 5 4 3 6 5 5 Ret 13 (WD) (WD) (WD) (WD) 5 8 9 9 11 10 11 10 3 3 3 3 273 8 Niko French 4 3 5 5 (3) (Ret) (6) (Ret) 6 6 5 4 7 Ret 6 4 17 17 9 4 6 8 5 7 16 255 9 Josh Gardiner (Ret) (WD) (WD) (WD) 10 Ret 9 DNS 12 9 8 8 8 5 8 12 8 6 6 Ret 8 7 8 8 217 10 Zachary Catlin 11 8 9 11 14 8 8 10 14 10 12 7 (10) (9) (12) (Ret) 12 11 7 6 7 6 Ret 14 212 11 Justin Yuen 10 12 10 9 13 9 10 9 10 11 14 10 9 10 11 11 13 12 14 11 (9) (Ret) (15) (12) 201 12 Brenton Davey 8 6 Ret 13 8 15 11 7 Ret 12 9 9 15 11 14 10 6 7 13 8 196 13 Jack Lewis 14 11 14 14 7 Ret 12 12 (15) (Ret) (15) (13) 11 12 13 14 9 8 12 9 11 14 16 16 170 14 Rory McKercher 15 14 13 10 16 11 15 14 (WD) (WD) (WD) (WD) 12 13 15 Ret 14 13 15 Ret 10 13 17 15 136 15 Chris Peters M 16 17 16 15 13 13 13 Ret 13 14 16 13 16 14 16 13 12 10 9 Ret 129 16 Christopher Carydias M Ret 15 15 12 12 Ret 13 8 9 Ret 17 Ret 18 16 18 12 14 12 14 13 118 17 Peter Nowlan M DNS 7 7 7 DNS 10 7 6 DNS DNS 11 Ret DNS DNS 13 9 112 18 Bastien Treptel 12 10 8 Ret 9 16 Ret DNS 8 8 16 11 91 19 Rob Summons 17 16 17 17 15 14 16 15 Ret 15 Ret 14 Ret 16 WD WD 15 15 17 Ret 74 20 Anton Zhouk 13 13 11 16 17 12 14 11 DNS Ret WD WD WD WD WD WD 61 21 Harry Strik 2 2 2 Ret 60 22 Ivan Vantagiato 9 Ret Ret WD 7 7 6 16† 60 23 Mitchell McGarry Ret 14 7 12 Ret 15 10 8 60 24 Luke Klaver 5 5 5 Ret 48 25 Adam Nicolson 7 9 12 8 48 26 Aaron Imbach DSQ 9 7 4 43 27 Christian Sasso DNS 13 Ret DNS 8 — Ashwin Dyall WD WD WD WD 0 Pos Driver R1 R2 R3 R4 R1 R2 R3 R4 R1 R2 R3 R4 R1 R2 R3 R4 R1 R2 R3 R4 R1 R2 R3 R4 Pen. Pts WIN1 ONE BEN SYD CAL WIN2

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points classification Blue Non-points classification Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired, not classified (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap † – Driver did not finish the race, but was classified

References

1. Williams, Bruce (2 March 2024). "Motorsport Australia sanctioning rival claims prestigious Australian Drivers Championship title". AutoAction. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
2. OBrien, Garry (24 December 2024). "Australian Drivers' Championship calendar unveiled". Speedcafe.com. Retrieved 2025-01-01.
3. "2025 Australian Drivers' Championship Rules and Regulations". 2025. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
4. "Rd 1 - Winton Raceway Feb 28-Mar 2". Hi-Tec Oils Super Series. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
5. "2025 MRA State Championship - Round 2 Event Details". MRA - Motor Racing Australia. Retrieved 29 March 2025.
6. "VMRC Round 2 - The Bend". Winton Motor Raceway . 23 April 2025. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
7. "Hi-Tec Oils Super Series Rd 2 - Sydney Motorsport Park May 30-31 - Entry List". Hi-Tec Oils Super Series. 23 May 2025. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
8. "Victoria Motor Racing Championship (VMRC) Round 3 - Calder Park Raceway". Winton Motor Raceway . 6 June 2025. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
9. "Season 3 - 2025 | Winton Raceway | Oct 31 to Nov 2". Hi-Tec Oils Super Series. Retrieved 2025-10-25.
10. "****UPDATED**** 2025 'GOLD STAR' AUSTRALIAN DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP". facebook . 27 December 2024. Retrieved 10 January 2025.

External links

• Australian Drivers Championship