A quick-fire penultimate round of the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia series could prove make or break for key title protagonists this weekend in South Australia.
A condensed two-day schedule will see a 23-strong field practice, qualify and complete three races across the Friday and Saturday at Shell V-Power Motorsport Park / The Bend this weekend as key title contenders look to position themselves best for the Sandown championship finale’ in November.
Just 50 points separate the top four contenders with 181 up for grabs this weekend meaning it truly remains anyone’s year with six races and two rounds remaining.
Sonic Motor Racing’s Jake Santalucia leads the standings heading to South Australia, his race three non-finish in Townsville not significantly denting his lead following three dominant Pro class wins at Queensland Raceway.
Lockie Bloxsom was a big winner from the series’ street circuit stop in July, the McElrea racer climbing back second in the standings and just 16 behind Santalucia.
Meanwhile, Ryan Casha climbed to third aboard his DNA Racing entry – the Queenslander now having finished either second or third in five of the last six completed races, only outscored by Santalucia who has won four of them.
A non-finish for Team Porsche NZ / EBM racer Tom Bewley dropped him to fourth in the standings following Townsville however it also showed how quickly things have changed in this year’s Sprint Challenge title fight.
All four will be in action this weekend amidst a 12-strong Pro class pack that will include the Michelin Sprint Challenge debut of Diesel Thomas, who steps in for Willie Exton at TekworkX Motorsport for his one-make Porsche debut.
At longer odds to become title contenders and yet too competitive to be ruled out of the hunt, fifth-placed Kamal Mrad and James Lodge in sixth are both likely to be contenders this weekend, while Tyler Greenbury’s strong recent pace has not been represented by results.
Every driver in the top nine of the outright / Pro class standings has finished in the top three of at least one race this year, showcasing the depth of the 2025 grid.
In the Pro-Am class, Ramu Farrell remains in control with a handy 131 point lead over Andrew Georgiadis, with Townsville winner Jacque Jarjo only 12 points further back in third. Lachy Harburg sits fourth in the standings and will return to the track this weekend following damage sustained in the substantial multi-car accident at the start of race two in Townsville.
The event at The Bend will see the field return to the full, 4.9km International circuit, having raced on the shorter ‘West’ circuit last year.
The last time the series raced on the longer version of the South Australian circuit, in 2023, it delivered one of the most dramatic races in series history as five different drivers led the Enduro Cup race.
The race, now regarded as one of the most thrilling in series history, was won by Aron Shields – driving for TekworkX – after both Lockie Bloxsom – who had initially crossed the line first – and runner-up Oscar Targett copped post-race penalties and were relegated.
Bloxsom had dropped to as low as ninth by the end of lap one after stalling but recovered superbly before his post-race penalty dropped him down the order.
Remarkably, The Bend’s International circuit has a lap record held by two drivers at the same time.
Ryan Wood (2022) and Oscar Targett (2023) each set a time of 1m50.4916s to score their respective pole positions – though technically Wood can claim the benchmark given he set it first.
The now Supercars ace holds the race lap record on his own, at 1m51.5419s.
The condensed two-day format this weekend – designed to support teams also tackling the upcoming Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia Championship round at the same circuit next week – will see an extended practice, qualifying and the opening sprint race on Friday this week, followed by a second sprint on Saturday morning and then the longer, Jim Richards Endurance Trophy affair on Saturday afternoon.
That race will be broadcast live and free on 7plus as part of the Shannons SpeedSeries GT Festival coverage this weekend.
ENTRY LIST, Round 5 – Shell V-Power Motorsport Park, South Australia
No Car # Team / Sponsor Class Driver
1 4 Team Porsche New Zealand / EBM Pro Tom Bewley
2 5 Jacque Fine Jewellery Pro-Am Jarcque Jarjo
3 6 Tyler Greenbury Racing Pro Tyler Greenbury
4 7 McElrea Racing 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 / Foundation Academy Pro Harry Walker
8 23 McElrea Racing Pro Lachlan Bloxsom
9 24 McElrea Racing Class B Daniel Quimby
10 25 Auticon / Wall Racing Pro Ben Taylor
11 29 Tyler Greenbury Racing Pro Lincoln Evans
12 35 Rentcorp Forklifts Pro-Am Indiran Padayachee
13 37 Jones Motorsport / Bondi Carpets Pro-Am Andrew Georgiadis
14 39 Ashley Seward Motorsport Pro James Lodge
15 47 Effect / Wall Racing Pro-Am Stephen Moylan
16 51 Farrell Transport Group Pro-Am Tim Farrell
17 69 Jones Motorsport / vomofiji.com Pro Hunter Robb
18 79 DNA Autosport Pro Ryan Casha
19 91 The Cover Shop / EBM Pro-Am Lachlan Harburg
20 96 Entertainment Park Pro-Am John Papantoniou
21 111 TFH Hire / TekworkX Motorsport Pro Diesel Thomas
22 777 Sonic Motor Racing / Dexion Pro Jake Santalucia
23 888 Jones Motorsport / Attachment Warehouse Pro-Am Ramu Farrell