{"id":560584,"date":"2026-03-24T06:52:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T06:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/560584\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T06:52:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T06:52:15","slug":"motorsport-news-strong-field-for-opening-porsche-sprint-challenge-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/560584\/","title":{"rendered":"Motorsport news: Strong field for opening Porsche Sprint Challenge round"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/unnamed-6.jpg\" alt=\"Strong field for opening Porsche Sprint Challenge round\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPorsche Michelin Sprint Challenge will field 25 cars for its opening round at Phillip Island. Image: Supplied<\/p>\n<p>The 25-strong grid will be made up of 14 Pro class entries and 11 Pro-Am contenders, with nine Porsche Michelin Junior drivers.<\/p>\n<p>As last year\u2019s title contenders Jake Santalucia, Ryan Casha, and Tom Bewley graduate to Equity-One Carrera Cup this year, returning Pro drivers Hunter Robb, Kamal Mrad and Lincoln Evans will be among those fighting for championship contention.<\/p>\n<p>Reigning Class B champion Daniel Quimby makes the step up to the Pro class, running the same model 991.2 Porsche as the rest of the field.<\/p>\n<p>Brothers Josh and Diesel Thomas will do double Porsche duties this year, combining their respective Carrera Cup debuts with Sprint Challenge.<\/p>\n<p>Among the rookie drivers this year are graduates from international open wheel racing including Jesse Lacey (US F4) and Xavier Avramides (British F4).<\/p>\n<p>Reigning Formula Ford champion Kobi Williams, GR Cup runner-up Lincoln Taylor, and Radical Cup contender Ruari Avern will also debut at Phillip Island.<\/p>\n<p>Chevrolet-linked GT outfit Johor Motor Racing will enter its first Junior Program driver, with Malaysian Hayden Kaikal joining the field in a Sonic Motor Racing Services-prepared car.<\/p>\n<p>The Pro-Am class features a mix of returning drivers, including 2017 class champion Anthony Gilbertson, returning after six years away.<\/p>\n<p>Former NASCAR and Super2 driver Dean Wanless makes his racing comeback after more than 20 years away from competitive racing.<\/p>\n<p>A notable absentee from the Phillip Island entry list is reigning Pro-Am champion Ramu Farrell, who won two races outright last season in a historic first for the series.<\/p>\n<p>Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge will be contested over six rounds, split between the Shannons SpeedSeries and Supercars Championship.<\/p>\n<p>Sprint Challenge commences this weekend, March 27-29, at Phillip Island.<\/p>\n<p>Full Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Round 1 Entry List<\/p>\n<p>Car No<br \/>\nDriver<br \/>\nTeam<br \/>\nClass<\/p>\n<p>2<br \/>\nDiesel Thomas<br \/>\nTFH Racing \/ TekworkX Motorsport<br \/>\nPro<\/p>\n<p>3<br \/>\nJosh Thomas<br \/>\nTFH Racing \/ TekworkX Motorsport<br \/>\nPro<\/p>\n<p>7<br \/>\nKamal Mrad<br \/>\nMrad Racing \/ McElrea Racing<br \/>\nPro<\/p>\n<p>11<br \/>\nEric Constantinidis<br \/>\nTekworkX Motorsport \/ Aera Cloud<br \/>\nPro-Am<\/p>\n<p>14<br \/>\nKent Leicester<br \/>\nKDL Property Group \/ McElrea Racing<br \/>\nPro-Am<\/p>\n<p>16<br \/>\nJesse Lacey<br \/>\nPinnacle Road &amp; Race Works<br \/>\nPro<\/p>\n<p>19<br \/>\nAnthony Gilbertson<br \/>\nMcElrea Racing<br \/>\nPro-Am<\/p>\n<p>22<br \/>\nRuairi Avern<br \/>\nSonic Motor Racing Services \/ TBC<br \/>\nPro<\/p>\n<p>24<br \/>\nDaniel Quimby<br \/>\nFCL Transport \/ McElrea Racing<br \/>\nPro<\/p>\n<p>25<br \/>\nBen Taylor<br \/>\nauticon \/ The Door Centre<br \/>\nPro<\/p>\n<p>29<br \/>\nLincoln Evans<br \/>\nTekworkX Motorsport<br \/>\nPro<\/p>\n<p>35<br \/>\nIndiran Padayachee<br \/>\nWillani Investments<br \/>\nPro-Am<\/p>\n<p>47<br \/>\nStephen Moylan<br \/>\nEffect Building Projects<br \/>\nPro-Am<\/p>\n<p>51<br \/>\nTim Farrell<br \/>\nFarrell Transport \/ McElrea Racing<br \/>\nPro-Am<\/p>\n<p>55<br \/>\nXavier Avramides<br \/>\nSonic Motor Racing Services \/ Ozone Organics \/ VPG<br \/>\nPro<\/p>\n<p>56<br \/>\nJohn McInnes<br \/>\nGWR Australia<br \/>\nPro-Am<\/p>\n<p>57<br \/>\nBrandon Madden<br \/>\nHarvey\u2019s Towing Services \/ Major Training<br \/>\nPro<\/p>\n<p>69<br \/>\nHunter Robb<br \/>\nVOMO Island Fiji \/ Jones Motorsport<br \/>\nPro<\/p>\n<p>75<br \/>\nDean Wanless<br \/>\nWanless<br \/>\nPro-Am<\/p>\n<p>78<br \/>\nLincoln Taylor<br \/>\nTekworkX Motorsport<br \/>\nPro<\/p>\n<p>81<br \/>\nHayden Haikal<br \/>\nSonic Motor Racing Services \/ JMR<br \/>\nPro<\/p>\n<p>91<br \/>\nLachlan Harburg<br \/>\nBunya Bush Mechanics \/ The Cover Shop<br \/>\nPro-Am<\/p>\n<p>94<br \/>\nKobi Williams<br \/>\nBrisbane Industrial Supplies \/ Edge Designer Homes<br \/>\nPro<\/p>\n<p>96<br \/>\nJohn Papantoniou<br \/>\nEntertainment Park<br \/>\nPro-Am<\/p>\n<p>272<br \/>\nMark Darling<br \/>\nSPM Investment Group<br \/>\nPro-Am<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/t.cfjump.com\/92797\/b\/294243\" rel=\"nofollow sponsored noopener\" data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none; vertical-align: middle;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/294243.gif\" alt=\"\"\/><br \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge will field 25 cars for its opening round at Phillip Island. Image: Supplied The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,276593,254712,85],"class_list":["post-560584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-porsche-michelin-sprint-challenge","tag-speedseries","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}