The calendar for the 53rd Australian Drivers Championship has been confirmed by Formula 3 Australia and provides one of the most diverse seasons yet with eight tracks, four states and the return of three circuits that the series has not visited for some time.

The 2009 Australian F3 Championship will race on a mix of high-downforce, slow-speed circuits and some of the quickest tracks in the country, extending the capabilities of its cars and drivers to their very maximum in the quest for Australia's top racing honour, the CAMS Gold Star.

Sandown Raceway, Winton and Wakefield Park all return to the championship after lengthy absences, the Goulburn track returning to the schedule for the first time since 2006, whilst its Victorian rivals get F3 action for the first time since 2004.

As has become routine in recent seasons, the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide will open the series, this time over 19-22 March, with the following seven rounds spread evenly through the rest of the year, one round a month with the exception of September.

Wakefield Park will form an Anzac day celebration over 24-26 April, before the series returns to the hallowed Phillip Island GP circuit on the third weekend in May. The halfway point will come at Winton over the weekend of 26-28 June as F3 returns to the tight and twisty rural circuit for the first time in five years, before another now-traditional date, Eastern Creek in July, forms round five.

What could be potentially the series' final fling at Oran Park, a drivers favourite, is set for the last weekend of August, before the third running of the SuperPrix - for the John Bowe Trophy - at Symmons Plains provides the backdrop for October's penultimate round before the championship concludes at Sandown in the Melbourne suburbs in late November.

Seven of the eight scheduled rounds will form part of the Shannons National Motor Racing Championships package.

The full Australian F3 schedule is as follows:

March 19-22 Clipsal 500 Adelaide
April 24-26 Wakefield Park Raceway
May 15-17 Phillip Island GP
June 26-28 Winton Motor Raceway
July 17-19 Eastern Creek Raceway
August 28-30 Oran Park Raceway
October 16-18 Australian F3 SuperPrix at Symmons Plains
November 28-29 Sandown Raceway