The battle for supremacy in the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia will take its second step this weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park.
A 24-strong grid will head into battle in a weekend that is set to be highlighted by a Saturday night fight under lights and on free-to-air TV as well.
Young Kiwi stars Willie Exton (TekworkX) and Tom Bewley (Team Porsche NZ / EBM) lead the way into Sydney, the former coming off two race wins at Phillip Island’s season opener.
Bewley’s consistency saw him second for the round while Jake Santalucia – the only one of the three to have raced at the challenging 3.93km circuit before – sits third in points.
The Sonic drivers’ opening round was highlighted by a remarkable charge through the field following a race one off, ultimately claiming his maiden Porsche win in the third race.
In position for a strong result could be Lockie Bloxsom, who scored a trio of fourths at Phillip Island however heads back to Sydney for his second event at the circuit this year.
The Queenslander tackled the opening round of Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia at the venue in late February, an event which included a race under lights on Saturday.
Tyler Greenbury will be another hoping recent Sydney form plays a role this weekend, the former Karting champion-turned team owner having scored his best ever one-make Porsche race finish – second – at SMP in the 2024 season finale’.
The remarkably competitive championship has seen six different drivers finish in the top three of a race already this year.
In Pro-Am, Ramu Farrell leads the standings heading to Sydney, a circuit where he claimed victory in the 2024 finale’.
Lachy Harburg will sit out Round 2 – taking advantage of the Pro-Am ‘drop your worst round’ option – while Damien Flack’s successful comeback at Phillip Island remains a one-time thing at present.
A contender could be Sydneysider Jacque Jarjo; the 2024 Class B champion to make his first Pro-Am start in Sprint Challenge this weekend. Jarjo has also already raced a Porsche at Sydney Motorsport Park this year; claiming a shock race win in the opening Pro-Am battle in Carrera Cup earlier this year.
Class B leader Daniel Quimby mixed it with the outright Pro cars at Phillip Island and will be hoping to do more of the same this weekend, while the class B field is bolstered by the return of Wall Racing’s Brayden Taylor, who will make his first start of the 2025 season.
Two first-time drivers will add their names to the Sprint Challenge record books this weekend with Pro-Am runner Kent Leicester and Harry Walker set to make their respective debuts.
Walker is the grandson of the late Ron Walker, famous for his role in promoting the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. The youngest Walker makes his debut this weekend fresh from GT competition in Europe, where he raced both GT4 and Ferrari Challenge machinery successfully.
Last year in Sydney – the final round of the championship – Oscar Targett sealed his maiden national championship by claiming pole position and the round win, taking two of the three races on offer in the process.
Targett’s 1:29.9823 flyer in qualifying was a Sprint Challenge record in Sydney before he sealed his title with wins in the first two races, the first under lights in front of Ryan Suhle and the second after a race-long Endurance Trophy race battle with Clay Osborne.
Osborne then claimed the finale’ ahead of Tyler Greenbury, who claimed his best ever one-make Porsche race finish in the process.
Following a pair of practice sessions and qualifying on Friday, two races highlight Saturday’s program at the Shannons SpeedSeries event at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Race two on Saturday will be under lights and also broadcast live and free on 7mate, while race one and Sunday’s Jim Richards Endurance Trophy encounter will be streamed live on 7plus.
Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge, Round 2 Entry List
| No | Car # | SPONSOR | C/L | DRIVER | |
| 1 | 4 | Team Porsche New Zealand / EBM | Pro | Tom | Bewley |
| 2 | 5 | JFJ Marketing | Pro-Am | Jacque | Jarjo |
| 3 | 6 | Tyler Greenbury Racing | Pro | Tyler | Greenbury |
| 4 | 7 | Cup Car Engineering | Pro | Kamal | Mrad |
| 5 | 11 | Aera Cloud & Cyber Security Group | Pro-Am | Eric | Constantinidis |
| 6 | 14 | KDL Property Group | Pro-Am | Kent | Leicester |
| 7 | 18 | Wall Racing | Pro | Harry | Walker |
| 8 | 19 | Wall Racing | Class B | Brayden | Taylor |
| 9 | 23 | McElrea Racing | Pro | Lachlan | Bloxsom |
| 10 | 24 | Cup Car Engineering | Class B | Daniel | Quimby |
| 11 | 25 | Auticon / Wall Racing | Pro | Ben | Taylor |
| 12 | 29 | Tyler Greenbury Racing | Pro | Lincoln | Evans |
| 13 | 30 | TekworkX Motorsport / Jackson Rooney Motorsport | Pro | Jackson | Rooney |
| 14 | 37 | Jones Motorsport / Bondi Carpets | Pro-Am | Andrew | Georgiadis |
| 15 | 39 | Ashley Seward Motorsport | Pro | James | Lodge |
| 16 | 42 | Tractor Repairs & Spares / TekworkX | Pro | Willie | Exton |
| 17 | 47 | Effect Building Projects / Wall Racing | Class B | Stephen | Moylan |
| 18 | 55 | AeroAdapt / Tigani Motorsport | Class B | David | Valeo |
| 19 | 69 | Jones Motorsport / vomofiji.com | Pro | Hunter | Robb |
| 20 | 79 | DNA Autosport | Pro | Ryan | Casha |
| 21 | 87 | DW Motorsport | Pro-Am | David | Greig |
| 22 | 96 | Entertainment Park | Pro-Am | John | Papantoniou |
| 23 | 777 | Sonic Motor Racing / Dexion | Pro | Jake | Santalucia |
| 24 | 888 | Jones Motorsport / RennAuto | Pro-Am | Ramu | Farrell |