It was the 53rd year of touring car racing in Australia since the first running of the Australian Touring Car Championship, now known as the International V8 Supercars Championship, and the Armstrong 500, the fore-runner of the present day Bathurst 1000.
It featured the sixteenth V8 Supercar Championship, contested over 30 races at 15 events.
Thirteen of these events were held in the six states and the Northern Territory of Australia, and single events were staged in New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates.
There was also a stand-alone, non-championship event supporting the 2012 Australian Grand Prix.
The season also included the thirteenth second-tier Dunlop V8 Supercar Series, contested over seven rounds.