PORSCHE 944 CHALLENGE - ROUND 3 2025 PREVIEW!
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A smaller collection of 13 Drivers have entered for the Third Round of the 2025 944 Challenge Championship, as the category returns to the iconic Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit. Though what is lacking in quantity is not lacking in quality as some of the best 944 Challenge drivers will be gridding up this weekend, where the field will have an extra race with 4 sprints over the weekend, which is proudly presented by Bowden’s Own Car Care Products.
Continuing his perfect start to 2025 at Calder Park with 3 more wins in the #1 car is Cameron Beller. Cameron will have his work cut out for him to continue that record this weekend, but as usual he will be putting in 100% effort to continue his winning streak.
Adam Brewer only found the podium in the final race at Calder Park, but 2 fourth place finishes means he is sitting in equal second in the championship behind Beller. Brewer was on the podium every race at PI last year, but the top step eluded him – a feat he will be looking to change this weekend as he attempts to close the gap on Beller in the points battle.
Moving up four positions in the pointscore after Calder Park is Jamie Westaway in the #28 car with a trio of podium finishes moving him up to fourth position. With a 50% win record at Phillip Island in 2024, Jamie will have his sights on putting an end to Beller’s 2025 winning streak and look to start clawing back his points deficit to the top three in the points.
Moving up to fifth position in the points is the impressive Peter Grant in the #84 machine. Fresh from scoring a trio of fifth place finishes at Calder in his best round to date, Peter will be hoping to again have a solid weekend to potentially improve his points position, but he will need to improve on his best PI finish to date of 7th position to do that.
Slipping back a couple positions in the points was Mark Taubitz, his weekend going south early after he was escorted to the gravel trap in the first race from 7th position, dropping him 2 laps down while he was recovered, putting him on the back foot for the rest ofd the weekend. Taubitz missed out on cracking the top 5 last year at Phillip Island, a stat he will definitely be looking to turn around this weekend and recover some points positions lost at Calder Park.
Nick Carpenter showed good speed at Calder in the #14 Melbourne Paving 944 – but was again hampered by virtue of being found the culprit in the incident which sent Taubitz to play in the sand, earning him a 30 second race penalty courtesy of the race stewards. Despite this, he recovered well to secure a pair of seventh place finishes in the two Sunday races. Nick’s best PI finish to date is 9th, and he will be another looking to record a new PB finish at the Island this weekend.
Sharing the tenth position in the 944 points is Jack Atley in the #35 Pit Lane Clothing car, Jack coming away from the Calder feeling there was missed opportunities after showing good pace on Friday practice, but getting snookered by another damp qualifying session, and a Race 1 spin put him on the back foot. A best finish of 9th at PI last year will rank him as another driver who will have his eyes on besting that result this weekend and to move firmly into the top ten in the pointscore.
Sam Rofe shares the tenth position in points scoring a pair of top ten finishes, but found himself struggling with matvch fitness over the length of the races and losing some positions in the closing stages in the #68 Porsche. Competing in the recent sh*tbox rally up to Townsville will undoubtedly help him and he will look to have a stronger finish to the races this weekend as he returns to PI for the first time since Island Magic 2015!
Slipping back from 5th after Sandown, to 13th in the points after missing the Calder Park round is Carter Fox with the #7 car. Carter had a fantastic Sandown and weekend and will be looking to continue as we head to Phillip Island. Last time there, Carter scored a 6th position in the final race, he will be hoping for a strong weekend to put him back to a competitive points position once the worst dropped round comes into effect.
Having his first 2025 outing, and first time competing at Calder Park was Michael Westaway onboard the familiar orange #45 944. Michael took his time getting used to the track and finding his feet, but had a strong final race where he moved up to eighth position in the final race. Always competitive at Phillip Island, Michael will surely be looking to mix it up in the top half of the field this weekend.
Heading to his debut round at Phillip Island in his 944 this weekend is Andrew Goldman in the #333 Carpet Shed machine. Gearbox issues in Race 1 put Andrew out at Calder Park, but a great job to source and replace the box overnight enabled him to notch up a top ten finish in the final race on Sunday. He will be looking to learn and score a few more top ten finishes over the course of the weekend.
Debuting for the first time in 2025 is Toni Andreevski in the #27 944, and Josh Brisbane in the green #56 car. Both drivers scored stong results at their last visits to the Island, a pair of seventh place and eighth place finishes respectively – expect both drivers to factor in the top ten all weekend, and watch out for Andreevski if some weather hits the circuit...
Unfortunately we are missing a number of regular competitors this weekend for various reasons, with Mark Verdino missing along with Tony Westaway due to being away, Andrew Jackman and Dick Howe are absent due to surgeries, along with Chris Lewis Williams, Manny Mezzasalma, Jared Campione, Pedr James & John Vainoras, some of who we hope to see make the trek over to the Bend for Round 4.
If you like what you see on the circuit and want to get on board with the Porsche 944 Challenge series, the series is enjoying a resurgence with a couple of cars available for purchase and others returning to competition, along with some freshly built cars being finalised with some of those for lease, or sale. Get in touch with the guys in the series if you would like to get on track and join in the action.
