The Tasman Series was the premier open-wheel championship of the southern hemisphere, linking races in Australia and New Zealand across the southern summer. The 1972 edition ran to Tasman Formula rules, which allowed both the larger Formula 5000 cars and smaller 2-litre machines to compete together, producing mixed grids where outright pace and reliability were equally important.
Sandown International Raceway in Melbourne's south-east had been a fixture on the Tasman calendar. The 3.1 km circuit favoured machinery with strong mid-corner grunt, which made the Formula 5000 cars the dominant force.
Frank Matich, the defending Australian Grand Prix winner, set pole position with a time of 1:01.3 in his Matich A50 powered by a Repco-Holden engine. The A50 had made its race debut at the 1971 Australian Grand Prix, where it had won on its first outing. Graham McRae of New Zealand qualified second in 1:01.8 aboard his Leda GM1-Chevrolet, matching the time set by Frank Gardner who qualified third in a Lola T300-Chevrolet. David Hobbs started fourth in his McLaren M18/M22-Chevrolet.
Matich led from the start, but his race ended abruptly after just five laps when a failed scavenge pump forced him into retirement. With the defending champion out early, the race opened up.
McRae moved to the front and controlled the contest from there. He crossed the line three seconds ahead of Frank Gardner in the Lola T300-Chevrolet, with David Hobbs completing the podium in third, one place higher than his grid starting position. McRae also set the fastest lap of 1:02.4, establishing a new outright lap record for the Sandown circuit.
An attendance of 30,000 watched the race unfold in sunny conditions.
McRae's victory at Sandown gave him an unassailable points lead in the 1972 Tasman Series with one round still to be run. It was his first of three Australian Grand Prix wins across his career — a notable record in that all three of those victories came at Sandown.
The 1972 Australian Grand Prix illustrated the competitive nature of the Tasman Series field and the pace at which fortunes could shift. Matich, who had dominated the previous year with the A50 on its debut, was eliminated before the race had properly begun, handing the initiative to McRae. The New Zealander's clean drive and record fastest lap marked him out as the class of the field at that point in the season, and his Tasman Series title would prove well earned across the full campaign.