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Ric Forest in his March 722 at Mosport Park in October 1972.  Copyright owned by the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame.  Used with permission.

Canadian Formula B 1972

The Molson regional championship did not continue for 1972 so the Players Canadian FB series expanded to nine races. The Jim Russell-backed team of Jacques Couture and Dave McConnell also departed leaving their closest rival from 1971, Fred Opert's Canadian partner and series regular Brian Robertson, to win the championship in his new Chevron B20. His main challengers were the ever-present Craig Hill in his one-year-old Lotus 69 and Ric Forest in a new March 722. Early the following year Robertson suffered a serious crash in practice for the Singapore GP and developed vertigo that forced his retirement.

Ecurie Canada arrived in FB in 1972 having bought out Wilson Southam's engine building operation. With ex-Shelby mechanic Tom Greatorex taking over engine preparation and Andy Roe preparing the cars, they ran two March 71BMs for Ian Coristine and Reg Scullion. Ecurie Canada had been formed in 1969 by Montreal stockbroker Monty Gordon as a syndicate of Ottawa businessmen to support the career of 22-year-old Kris Harrison. The highly entrepreneurial Harrison later assumed the running of the operation.

The races

28 May 1972 > Sanair

04 Jun 1972 > Sanair

25 Jun 1972 > Edmonton

09 Jul 1972 > Westwood

23 Jul 1972 > Circuit Ste-Croix

06 Aug 1972 > Gimli

27 Aug 1972 > Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières

10 Sep 1972 > Debert

01 Oct 1972 > Sanair

15 Oct 1972 > Mosport Park

Players (Canadian) Formula B Championship events shown in bold

1972 Players (Canadian) Formula B Championship table

1Brian RobertsonChevron B20 - Ford twin cam160 pts4 wins
2Craig HillLotus 69 - Ford twin cam141 pts2 wins
3Ric ForestMarch 722 - Ford twin cam132 pts1 win
4Al JustasonBrabham BT29 - Ford twin cam96 pts 
5Barry FoxBrabham BT38 - Ford twin cam75 pts 
6John PowellChevron B18 - Ford twin cam70 pts 
7Eligio SiconolfiBrabham BT38 - Ford twin cam67 pts 
8Max NerrièreLotus 59 - Ford twin cam54 pts 
9Reg ScullionMarch 71BM - Ford twin cam51 pts 
10Ian CoristineMarch 722 - Ford twin cam49 pts 
11Bill EaglesBrabham BT35 - Ford twin cam44 pts 
12Maurice McCaigBrabham BT35 - Ford twin cam38 pts 
13Bruce JensenChevron B17b - Ford twin cam37 pts 
14Roy FollandMarch 722 - Ford twin cam34 pts 
15Bill BrackChevron B18 - Ford twin cam30 pts1 win
16Gilles LégerMarch 71BM/722 - Ford twin cam28 pts 
17David McConnellGRD B72 - Ford twin cam27 pts 
18Derek JohnsonBrabham BT29 - Ford twin cam20 pts 
19Ken HubandBrabham BT29 - Ford twin cam19 pts 
20Dave OgilvyBrabham BT29 - Ford twin cam17 pts 

Previous: 1971

Next: 1973

As in 1971, Players races attracted fields of about 20 starters but Formula Fords were no longer needed to fill the grids. Overall competitiveness remained very high with 40% of the cars starting races being 1972 models and another 25% being just one year old.

For the constructors, the big change was that Brabhams didn't win a single race and virtually disappeared from podium positions. Chevron won six races, with four for the Fred Opert Racing B20 of champion Robertson and one each for the older B18s of Bill Brack and John Powell. Two fell to the Lotus of Hill and two to the new March 722s which had sold in huge numbers across North America. The 1972 Brabham was the monocoque BT38B and with Ron Tauranac's retirement and importer Fred Opert's increasing focus on Chevron, sales were poor. Only two BT38s appeared regularly in Canada in 1972.