The 2012 ATS Formel 3 Cup was the tenth edition of the German F3 Cup and the inaugural edition with one-make Volkswagen Power Engines.[1] The Cup class is open for cars built between 2008 and 2011 and equipped with the new Volkswagen engine, while cars built between 2002 and 2007 with conventional Formula Three engines will race in the Trophy class.[2] The season began on 4 May at Circuit Park Zandvoort and ended on 30 September at Hockenheim after nine race weekends, totalling 27 races.[3]
Lotus driver Jimmy Eriksson became the first and only Swedish driver to win the championship. He clinched the title after taking points in the Hockenheim qualifying.[4] He surpassed champion of the Rookie class Lucas Auer and Kimiya Sato by 110 and 127 respectively points. André Rudersdorf won the Trophy class, as his main rival Luca Stolz stepped up to the Cup class in the second half of the season.
The 2012 calendar consists of nine meetings, of which five take place on German soil while neighbouring Netherlands, Belgium and Austria will host the remaining four rounds. The F3 Cup will be part of the ADAC Masters Weekend package seven times; GAMMA Race Day at Assen is once again part of the German F3 schedule with an International Superstars Series support round at Spa-Francorchamps. The series will adopt a format used in British Formula 3 and the Formula 3 Euro Series, with three races a weekend, two of which held on the Saturday and the final race on the Sunday.[3]
| Round | Circuit | Date | Pole Position | Fastest Lap | Winning driver | Winning team | Secondary Class winner | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | R1 |  Circuit Park Zandvoort | 5 May |  Lucas Auer | Lucas Auer |  Jimmy Eriksson |  Lotus | |||
| R2 |  Kimiya Sato |  Yannick Mettler | Performance Racing | nowrap | T:  Jordi WeckxR: John Bryant-Meisner | |||||
| R3 | 6 May | Lucas Auer | Kimiya Sato | Kimiya Sato | Lotus | T: Jordi Weckx R:  Mitchell Gilbert | ||||
| 2 | R1 | Sachsenring | 9 June | Kimiya Sato | Kimiya Sato | Kimiya Sato | Lotus | T: Luca Stolz R:  Artem Markelov | ||
| R2 | Artem Markelov | René Binder | nowrap | Van Amersfoort Racing | T: Luca Stolz R: Artem Markelov | |||||
| R3 | 10 June |  Tom Blomqvist | Kimiya Sato | Kimiya Sato | Lotus | T: André Rudersdorf R: Lucas Auer | ||||
| 3 | R1 | Oschersleben | 7 July | Jimmy Eriksson | Jimmy Eriksson | Jimmy Eriksson | Lotus | T: André Rudersdorf R: Mitchell Gilbert | ||
| R2 | Kimiya Sato | Kimiya Sato | Lotus | T: Luca Stolz R: Artem Markelov | ||||||
| R3 | 8 July | Jimmy Eriksson | Jimmy Eriksson | Jimmy Eriksson | Lotus | T: Luca Stolz R: Lucas Auer | ||||
| 4 | R1 | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps* | 14 July | Kimiya Sato | Jimmy Eriksson | Jimmy Eriksson | Lotus | T: André Rudersdorf R: Mitchell Gilbert | ||
| R2 | Jimmy Eriksson | Tom Blomqvist |  EuroInternational | T: André Rudersdorf R: Artem Markelov | ||||||
| R3 | 15 July | Kimiya Sato | René Binder | René Binder | Van Amersfoort Racing | nowrap | T: André Rudersdorf R: Lucas Auer | |||
| 5 | R1 | TT Circuit Assen* | 3 August | Jimmy Eriksson | Jimmy Eriksson | Jimmy Eriksson | Lotus | T: Jordi Weckx R: Dennis van de Laar | ||
| R2 | 4 August | Jimmy Eriksson | Mitchell Gilbert | Performance Racing | T: Jordi Weckx R: Mitchell Gilbert | |||||
| R3 | 5 August | Jimmy Eriksson | Mitchell Gilbert | Jimmy Eriksson | Lotus | T: Jordi Weckx R: Lucas Auer | ||||
| 6 | R1 | Red Bull Ring | 11 August | Tom Blomqvist | Mitchell Gilbert | Tom Blomqvist | EuroInternational | T: André Rudersdorf R: Mitchell Gilbert | ||
| R2 | Lucas Auer | Lucas Auer | Van Amersfoort Racing | T: André Rudersdorf R: Lucas Auer | ||||||
| R3 | 12 August | Tom Blomqvist | Jimmy Eriksson | Tom Blomqvist | EuroInternational | T: André Rudersdorf R: Lucas Auer | ||||
| 7 | R1 | Lausitzring | 25 August | Mitchell Gilbert | Mitchell Gilbert | Mitchell Gilbert | Performance Racing | T: André Rudersdorf R: Mitchell Gilbert | ||
| R2 | Mitchell Gilbert | Artem Markelov | Lotus | T: André Rudersdorf R: Artem Markelov | ||||||
| R3 | 26 August | Mitchell Gilbert | Lucas Auer | Lucas Auer | Van Amersfoort Racing | T: André Rudersdorf R: Lucas Auer | ||||
| 8 | R1 | Nürburgring | 15 September | Tom Blomqvist | Tom Blomqvist | Tom Blomqvist | EuroInternational | T: André Rudersdorf R: Lucas Auer | ||
| R2 | Kimiya Sato | René Binder | Van Amersfoort Racing | T: André Rudersdorf R: Mitchell Gilbert | ||||||
| R3 | 16 September | Tom Blomqvist | Kimiya Sato | Tom Blomqvist | EuroInternational | T: André Rudersdorf R: Lucas Auer | ||||
| 9 | R1 | Hockenheimring | 29 September | Jimmy Eriksson | Jimmy Eriksson | Jimmy Eriksson | Lotus | T: Dominik Kocher R: Mitchell Gilbert | ||
| R2 | Lucas Auer | Artem Markelov | Lotus | T: Dominik Kocher R: Artem Markelov | ||||||
| R3 | 30 September | nowrap | Jimmy Eriksson | nowrap | Jimmy Eriksson | nowrap | Jimmy Eriksson | Lotus | T: Dominik Kocher R: Lucas Auer | |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | PP | FL | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Races 1 & 3 | 25 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | |
| Race 2 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rookie drivers are only eligible for the SONAX Rookie-Pokal title, if they have not previously competed in more than two events of national or international Formula 3 racing, and are 25 years old or younger in 2012.
| valign=middle | Pos | valign=middle | Driver | ZAN | SAC | OSC | SPA | ASS | RBR | LAU | NÜR | HOC | Pts | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lucas Auer | 2 | DNS | 4 | 6 | Ret | 2 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 5 | Ret | 5 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 414 | ||
| 2 | Mitchell Gilbert | 3 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 2 | DSQ | 8 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 399 | ||
| 3 | Artem Markelov | Ret | 9 | Ret | 4 | 5 | DSQ | 8 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 14† | 5 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 291 | ||
| 4 | Luca Stolz | 6 | DNS | 10 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 13† | 8 | 2 | 5 | 4 | Ret | 8 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 7 | 8 | 254 | ||
| 5 | Dennis van de Laar | 10 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 13 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 4 | 17† | 12 | 4 | 9 | 8 | Ret | 10 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 227 | |||||
| 6 | André Rudersdorf | 9 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 13 | 9 | 10 | 171 | ||||||||
| 7 | Sheban Siddiqi | 11 | 11 | 9 | Ret | 10 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 14† | 11 | 10 | 12 | 10 | Ret | 7 | 13 | 15 | 13 | 15 | 12 | 15 | 12 | 12† | 9 | 9 | 10 | 150 | ||
| 8 | John Bryant-Meisner | 7 | 3 | 5 | 34 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9 | Maximilian Hackl | 13 | 10 | 14 | 16 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| valign=middle | Pos | valign=middle | Driver | ZAN | SAC | OSC | SPA | ASS | RBR | LAU | NÜR | HOC | Pts | ||||||||||||||||||
Sylvain Warnecke