2025 Australian Formula Open
Australian formula racing championship
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The 2025 Australian Formula Open: Driven by FRCA was a multi-event open-wheel single seater motor racing championship. This was the third season of the Australian Formula Open series, which was originally founded by two-time Australian Gold Star winner Tim Macrow in 2023 as a direct successor to the Australian Formula 3 championship.[1]
When AFO's original organizers launched the AU3 Championship for 2025, the AFO moniker was taken over mid-year by the organizers of the NSW Formula Car Championship, an open formula championship run since 2011 as one of Motorsport Australia's State Championships. That saw that championship effectively be rebranded under the AFO guise.[2]
The championship was run over five weekends from February to October.[3] Performer Australia's Michael Doherty won the Drivers' Championship title at the penultimate race of the season.
Teams and drivers
All teams and drivers were Australian-registered.
| Team | No. | Driver | Car | Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baker Motorsport - Team Penrite | 1 | Rodney Baker | Dallara F399 | All |
| RMS Racing | 3 | Robert Sviderskas | Mantis M2-001 | All |
| Genesis Offices | 4 | Robert Rowe | Dallara F308 | 4 |
| TWS Motorsport | 14 | Trent Shirvington | Mygale M11 | 1 |
| M Roesler Motorsport | Matthew Roesler | Tatuus FT-50 | 4 | |
| CO Machining | 21 | Graeme Holmes | Dallara F3 | 2–5 |
| Sydney Photo Booth / AGI Sport | 23 | Lawrence Katsidis | Dallara F304 | All |
| Apollo Patios | 24 | Nathan Beer | Dallara F305/7 | 1–3, 5 |
| Phil Morrow Racing | 25 | Phil Morrow | Dallara F305/7 | 1, 3, 5 |
| CPL | 37 | Ben Turner | Dallara F3 | 4 |
| Formula Race Car Association | 41 | Greg Muddle | Dallara F305 | 1–4 |
| Performer Australia | 42 | Michael Doherty | Performer P1000 | All |
| 72 | Shane Varley | Performer P1000 | 1–2, 4–5 | |
| Douglas Barry Specials | 44 | Douglas Barry | Reynard 92D | 1–4 |
| ARB Bundaberg | 51 | Ron Bennet | Dallara F399/01 | 4 |
| Eagle Transportation Pty Ltd | 55 | Glenn Lynch | Dallara F397 | 1, 3 |
| 3 Amigos Racing | 76 | Jeffrey Senior | Dallara F302 | 3–4 |
| SMJ Plastering | 95 | Shayne Morrow | Dallara F300/01 | 1, 5 |
| Raven Gruppe | 666 | Adam Savic | Stohr F1000 | All |
| Privateer | 73 | Simon Bedford | Dallara F3 | 4–5 |
| 88 | Andrew Fitzpatrick | Mygale M14-F4 | 1 | |
| 655 | Abhishek Jain | Swift 2015 | 2 | |
| Source: [4][5][6][7][8] | ||||
Race calendar
The 2025 calendar was announced in early January of 2024 - still under the guise of the NSW Formula Car Challenge.[9] Compared to 2024, two events at One Raceway were added while Sydney Motorsport Park only hosted two instead of three rounds. A sixth event at Morgan Park Raceway was also part of the first version of the calendar, but was later removed.
| Round | Circuit | Date | Support bill | Map of circuit locations | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | R1 |  One Raceway, Goulburn |
22 February | NSW Production Touring Cars NSW Improved Production Championship New South Wales Formula Ford Championship |
|
| R2 | 23 February | ||||
| R3 | |||||
| 2 | R1 |  Winton Motor Raceway, Winton |
10 May | NSW Production Touring Cars NSW Improved Production Championship Victorian Improved Production Championship New South Wales Formula Ford Championship | |
| R2 | 11 May | ||||
| R3 | |||||
| 3 | R1 | Sydney Motorsport Park, Eastern Creek |
26 July | Australian Formula Ford Championship NSW Production Touring Cars NSW Improved Production Championship SuperSports NSW State Championship | |
| R2 | |||||
| R3 | |||||
| 4 | R1 | 27 September | NSW Production Touring Cars NSW Improved Production Championship SuperSports NSW State Championship NSW Sports Sedan State Championship | ||
| R2 | 28 September | ||||
| R3 | |||||
| 5 | R1 | One Raceway, Goulburn |
18 October | NSW Sports Sedan State Championship SuperSports NSW State Championship New South Wales Formula Ford Championship | |
| R2 | 19 October | ||||
| R3 | |||||
Race results
| Round | Circuit | Pole position | Fastest lap | Winning driver | Winning team | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | R1 | One Raceway |
Trent Shirvington | Trent Shirvington | Trent Shirvington | TWS Motorsport |
| R2 | Trent Shirvington | Trent Shirvington | TWS Motorsport | |||
| R3 | Rodney Baker | Rodney Baker | Baker Motorsport - Team Penrite | |||
| 2 | R1 | Winton Motor Raceway |
Michael Doherty | Rodney Baker | Rodney Baker | Baker Motorsport - Team Penrite |
| R2 | Michael Doherty | Michael Doherty | Performer Australia | |||
| R3 | Michael Doherty | Michael Doherty | Performer Australia | |||
| 3 | R1 | Sydney Motorsport Park |
Douglas Barry | Michael Doherty | Michael Doherty | Performer Australia |
| R2 | Michael Doherty | Michael Doherty | Performer Australia | |||
| R3 | race cancelled after delays to race weekend schedule | |||||
| 4 | R1 | Rodney Baker | Douglas Barry | Michael Doherty | Performer Australia | |
| R2 | Rodney Baker | Rodney Baker | Baker Motorsport - Team Penrite | |||
| R3 | Robert Rowe | Douglas Barry | Douglas Barry Specials | |||
| 5 | R1 | One Raceway |
Rodney Baker | Rodney Baker | Michael Doherty | Performer Australia |
| R2 | Rodney Baker | Rodney Baker | Baker Motorsport - Team Penrite | |||
| R3 | Graeme Holmes | Graeme Holmes | CO Machining | |||
Championship standings
Points were awarded as follows:
| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 25 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
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Italics – Fastest Lap † — Did not finish, but classified | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||