THE PRESIDENT'S REPORT - ROUND 5 PREVIEW - SANDOWN
Porsche Cars Australia
L K Diesel Service
Tyrepower Benalla
Melbourne Paving
Butchers Diner
Don Watson Transport
AVi Technology
Poolmaster Bayside
Trico
888 Home Loans
Pit Lane Clothing
17 Drivers have entered for the Fifth Round of the 2025 944 Challenge Championship, as the category returns to the
Sandown Raceway for the first repeat track of the 2025 Season in their final round for the 2025 Vic State
Championships, with this round of the series is proudly presented by L.K Diesel Service.
Winton was a weekend to forget for Championship leader Cameron Beller in the aqua #1 car, a touch in turn 1 of Race 1
spun him to the back of the pack, followed by a DNF in Race 2 which was the first race of the year that he has not been
on the podium. Despite this, he is still sitting in a commanding position for the State Championship as the Winton Round
was not part of the State Championship, and using Winton as his dropped worst round allows him to maintain his spot
on the top of both Championship Points tables – although he now needs to ensure he does not suffer the same fate in
the final two rounds if he wants to have a chance to take a sixth 944 series championship.
Now second in both championships is Jamie Westaway in the #28 car, after a round where he had to fight his way
through the field in both races 1 & 2 at Winton, he was able to triumph with a victory in the final race which secured him
second in the round honours and move him closer to Beller in the 944 Championship points.
Another having a round to forget at Winton was Adam Brewer in the #3 AVi Technology machine. After securing a
blistering qualifying lap to give him a dominating pole position, it all went downhill at the first corner of Race 1 when
contact with Beller and a spin, and resultant penalty left him classified in 14th for Race 1. He was able to recover by Race
3 where he finished third, but dropped him a couple of points behind Westaway in the season points.
Sitting in fourth position in the 944 Championship after dropping his missed round at Phillip Island is Mark Verdino in his
#44 Sidelink Porsche – with Verdinos weekend results improving after a bad start in the same way as Brewer, an
eleventh place Race 1 finish after a spin improving to a fourth place in the final race, enough for fifth outright in the
round points.
Moving one spot back courtesy of the dropped worst round taking affect is Mark Taubitz, now piloting the #66 Pipecraft
car. Taubitz had high hopes returning to the site of his two race wins last year for the first time, but had an up and down
weekend starting with a qualifying setup mistake saw him line up 10th on the grid. Despite making good progress he was
escorted off track while fighting for third position to be classified sixth. This improved to second in the second race, but
slipped back down in the final race after the car jumped out of gear at the start. Despite this, the misfortune of others meant he finished the round in third position and in position to capitalise if those in front of him falter.
Moving up to an impressive sixth position in the championship points after the dropped worst round is Michael
Westaway in the familiar orange #45 944, with Michael having a great weekend with a fourth, then a third position finish
in the first two races before getting tagged in the final race dropping him down the order.
Following in his brothers footsteps in moving up in the points to sit behind him in seventh in points is Tony Westaway in
the #50 car, Tony was sitting just behind Michael for the majority of the Winton weekend, however outscored him in the
final race after Michael’s last race misfortune which saw Tony take fourth outright in points for the weekend, moving
him to within 9 points of Michael by going into the Sandown round this weekend.
Slipping back a couple of spots behind the Westaway brothers after the worst dropped round comesw into play is Peter
Grant in the #84 Auto Coupe 944. Peter had his lowest scoring round for the season so far, a couple of spins hurting his
results over the Winton weekend, he will look forward to returning to Sandown where he scored some strong results in
the Sunday races earlier in the year.
Turning his 2025 Season luck around at Winton in the biggest way was Chris Lewis-WiIliams in the #37 Tyrepower
Benalla car – taking two race victories and a second as he also scored back-to-back round wins at his hometown circuit,
moving him up to ninth position in the 944 Championship season points. He recovered from a Race 1 DNF to a podium
finish last time at Sandown, and will look keep his Winton performance on board as we return to the Melbourne circuit.
Also slipping a few spots back after the dropped worst round is Jack Atley in the #35 Pit Lane Clothing car, with a Race 3
DNF also counting as Jack’s worst round of the season so far. He was able to end the earlier Sandown Round on a good
note in the final race with an eighth place finish, a result he will be looking to repeat, or improve on this weekend.
Bouncing back from his Phillip Island misfortune was Nick Carpenter scoring a trio of top ten finishes and kept himself
free from drama in an intense Winton round in his #14 Melbourne Paving backed 944. Nick scored his,i best race finish
of the season so far at Sandown at the start of the year so he will hope to continue on with that momentum from
Winton as the series returns to Sandown this weekend.
Another who had a weekend with drama was Sam Rofe in his #68 PCM 944, unfortunately for Sam he was the unlucky
recipient of a couple of tags that saw him spin, preventing him from scoring a stronger points haul for this weekend. Sam
will also be looking to improve on his results from Winton and improve on his best result of the season which also came
at Sandown earlier in the year and look to move back into the top ten in the season pointscore.
Andrew Goldman sits next in the pointscore with the #333 Carpet Shed 944, following on from a reasonable Winton
outing despite a spin in Race 2 into the Winton infield. Andrew had mechanical issues last time out at Sandown that
prevented him from running on Sunday, he will have his sights set on improving on his best results at the Melbourne
circuit this weekend.
A Winton weekend that again showed great pace for Josh Brisbane in the green #56 machine, but was hamstrung by
having to miss qualifying and start from the rear of the 19 car field for Race 1. Josh managed to rise up to seventh place
by the end of the weekend – showing sign of being able to place himself well inside the top ten all weekend if he is able
to have the luck and reliability to enable him to do so.
A character building Winton weekend at Winton for Carter Fox, some qualifying miscues led to him being hampered at
the back in Race 1, an off-track excursion mid race and a part failure ending his weekend early. Carter showed good pace
and scored good results at Sandown earlier in the year, he will be looking for a reset and revisit of that performance this
weekend, and start building momentum for a strong assault on the 2026 season.
Unfortunately there are two last minutes scratchings for this round with Manny Mezzasalma and Andrew Jackman both
unable to make the event - both are expected to return for the final round of the 2025 Season at Phillip Island for Island
Magic, along with Toni Andreevski, Pedr James, John Vainoras, Jared Campione, Lyndon Watson as well as some new
and returning faces that we anticipate joining the grid at Phillip Island to prepare for the 2026 Championship.
With a strong field in attendance, the future is looking even stronger with some more new competitors looking to debut,
or rejoin the series for the Sandown and Phillip Island rounds to round out the year.
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.