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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.

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

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.

AFO1 entries

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

AFO2 entries

Team	No.	Car	Driver	Rounds
State Fleet Services	3	Tatuus FT50	Matthew Roesler	2
	4			3, 5
AON Investments Pty Ltd	19	Ralt RT4	Arthur Abrahams	6
RMS Racing	25	Cheetah Mk7	Robert Sviderskas	2
TCM Race Services	53	Tatuus FT50	Matthew Woodland	3
Jetforms.com.au	93	Tatuus FT50	Christopher Slusarski	3, 6
DiBiase Carpentry	127	Tatuus FT50	Paul di Biase	2–3, 6
Sources:

AFO4 entries

Team	No.	Car	Driver	Rounds
AGI Sport	6	Mygale M14-F4	Brodie Norris	2–6
	40	Mygale M14-F4 Ford	Tim Boydle	1
	60	Tatuus F4	Jayden Ojeda	2
	62	Tatuus F4-T014 Fiat	Craig McLatchey	1
	66	Mygale M14-F4 Ford	Kristian Janev	2–6
	77			1
		Mygale M14-F4	Peter Bouzinelos	4–6
	7	Mygale M14-F4 Ford	Mark Wilson	6
	71			1–2
Tim Macrow Racing	16	Mygale M14-F4 Ford	Hanming Huang	1, 3–6
	25	Mygale M14-F4	Thomas Gallagher	4–6
Patrizi Corse	21	Mygale M14-F4	Ryan McMillan	4–6
Formula Race Car Association	51	Tatuus	Nathan Beer	1–2, 6
Sources:

Race calendar

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

Round		Circuit	Date	Support bill	Map of circuit locations
1	R1	Winton Motor Raceway Winton, Victoria	4 March	NSW Formula Vee Championship NSW Formula Ford Championship NSW State Championships	WintonSydneyTailem BendIpswichSandownPhillip Island
	R2		5 March
	R3
2	R1	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	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 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	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	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	Winton Motor Raceway Winton, Victoria	Trent Grubel	Trent Grubel	Trent Grubel	no entries	Kristian Janev
	R2			Trent Grubel	Trent Grubel		Kristian Janev
	R3			Trent Grubel	Trent Grubel		Kristian Janev
2	R1	Sydney Motorsport Park Eastern Creek, New South Wales	Trent Grubel	race declared a non-event after multiple crashes at the start
	R2			Trent Grubel	Trent Grubel	Matthew Roesler	Brodie Norris
	R3			Trent Grubel	Trent Grubel	Paul di Biase	Kristian Janev
3	R1	The Bend Motorsport Park Tailem Bend, South Australia	Trent Grubel	Trent Grubel	Ryan How	Christopher Slusarski	Brodie Norris
	R2			Ryan How	Ryan How	Christopher Slusarski	Brodie Norris
	R3			Ryan How	Ryan How	Christopher Slusarski	Brodie Norris
4	R1	Queensland Raceway Willowbank, Queensland	Ryan How	Miles Bromley	Trent Grubel	no entries	Brodie Norris
	R2			Ryan How	Trent Grubel		Brodie Norris
	R3			Trent Grubel	Ryan How		Peter Bouzinelous
5	R1	Sandown Raceway Melbourne, Victoria	Ryan How	Trent Grubel	Ryan How	no classified finishers	Brodie Norris
	R2			Trent Grubel	Ryan How	Matthew Roesler	Brodie Norris
	R3			Ryan How	Trent Grubel	Matthew Roesler	Kristian Janev
6	R1	Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit Ventnor, Victoria	Trent Grubel	Trent Grubel	Ryan How	Ryan McMillan	Christopher Slusarski
	R2			Ryan How	Ryan How	Ryan McMillan	Paul di Biase
	R3			Ryan How	Ryan How	Ryan McMillan	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.

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.

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.

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:

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

Overall standings

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

Standings by class

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

References

1. "Australian Formula Open Calendar confirmed – The Race Torque". Retrieved 21 December 2022.
2. richardrt (18 January 2023). "S5000, Australian Formula Open announce prize package". S5000. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
3. Herrero, Daniel (23 November 2022). "New 'Formula Open' wings and slicks category to debut". Speedcafe. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
4. "Australian Formula Open season launches at Winton – The Race Torque". Retrieved 2 March 2023.
5. ^ "NSW Motorsport Australia State Championship". Winton Motor Raceway. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
6. ^ "NSW Motor Race Championship 15 April 2023 - 16 April 2023: Acceptance List" (PDF).
7. ^ "SAMS featuring Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia - THE BEND MOTORSPORT PARK - 2023 Australian Formula Open Series - Practice 2". Natsoft Race Results.
8. ^ "Australian Formula Open on facebook: "Times for Practice 2:"".
9. ^ "2023 Shannons Speed Series - Round 6 SANDOWN INTERNATIONAL MOTOR RACEWAY - Formula Open - Qualifying".
10. ^ "Island Magic 2023". piarc.com.au. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
11. "New Formula Open category published 2023 calendar - UK Sports News". 20 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
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 15 April 2023.
13. O'Brien, Garry (6 August 2023). "Formula Open round to Grubel, wins shared in Excels". Speedcafe.com. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
14. "How closes gap ahead of AFO season finale". Retrieved 4 December 2023.
15. "Grubel holds on for AFO title". Retrieved 4 December 2023.
16. ^ Wood, Ida (11 March 2023). "The story behind Australian racing's slicks-and-wings survival route". Formula Scout. Retrieved 14 March 2023.

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