THE PRESIDENT'S REPORT - ROUND 6 PREVIEW - ISLAND MAGIC
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
Sponsors
Porsche Cars Australia
Butchers Diner
L K Diesel Service
Tyrepower Benalla
Melbourne Paving
Don Watson Transport
AVi Technology
Poolmaster Bayside
Trico
888 Home Loans
Pit Lane Clothing
A smaller field of 13 drivers are entered for this, the final Round of the 2025 Porsche 944 Championship Season. This
round sees the field return to the majestic Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit for the famed Island Magic event, and is
proudly presented by Butchers Diner.
What is missing in quantity, is made up for in quality with the majority of the front runners entered as they vie for the
best spot possible in the final championship standings.
Leading the points into the last round is 5 Time series and defending Champion Cameron Beller in Car #1, coming off
another good points haul at the previous round at Sandown, Beller has one hand on the trophy and only needs to score
a trio of fourth place finishes to secure a sixth title, but finishing and scoring points in all three races is key, as a DNF
could cost him the chance to secure the title.
Sitting in second position and ready to pounce is Jamie Westaway in the #28 machine. A couple of penalties at Sandown
prevented Jamie from perhaps being able to take out the round victory at Sandown, but as we return to the PI circuit
where Jamie took the round win earlier in the year, he will hope to repeat that performance and give him the best shot
to triumph over Beller for the season honours.
Bouncing back from his disappointing Winton round at Sandown was Adam Brewer in the #3 AVi Technology car,
securing the round win along with a strong victory in the final race of the weekend, Adam sits only 5 points adrift of
Jamie Westaway and is also poised to pounce if misfortune should strike Beller or Westaway.
Slightly adrift in fourth position is Mark Verdino is the rejuvenated #44 Sidelink Transport machine. Verdino is returning
to Phillip Island for the first time since last years Island Magic event after missing the mid-year round, but will surely not
take long to get back into the groove and will need a consistent weekend to hold onto fourth position, with a top three
position only mathematically possible if Verdino wins all three races with DNF's striking Westaway and Brewer.
In fifth position, and with sights set on stealing back fourth position from Verdino is Mark Taubitz in the yellow #66
Pipecraft 944. Mark had his strongest ever Phillip Island weekend on the last visit earlier in the year, recording his fastest
laps by almost two seconds and four good race finishes, despite suffering some downshifting issues. Taubitz will need to
replicate that performance if he wants to move up to fourth in the points by the end of the weekend.
Sitting in sixth position on corrected points is Tony Westaway in the Yellow #50 car. Tony only needs to finish all three
races to hopefully secure the sixth spot in the final championship results, but is unable to move into the top 5 in points.
Tony will also secure the inaugural Veterans Cup Championship this year at the close of the weekend.
Having his best weekend of the year at Sandown was another yellow car, this one being Sam Rofe in his #68 PCM 944.
Sam will have aspirations of moving up 1 or perhaps 2 positions in points by the time the weekend is over if he can have
another strong weekend, but also will be looking to outscore Jack Atley to prevail in their year long points battle.
Poised to move back into the top 10 in points following this round is Jack Atley in the #35 Pit Lane Clothing car. Jack will
likely be battling for the eighth position following the weekend with Rofe who holds an 8 point advantage over Atley.
Will a second Pit Lane Clothing car bring team orders into effect to help Atley achieve his goal?
Having only his third outing for this year is Toni Andreevski in his beautiful purple #27 machine - though his previous visit
to the circuit in May yielded three top 5 finishes in a very impressive outing. Toni would surely be in a position to
challenge for the top 5 in a championship battle if he were able to contend the full season such is the impressive
performance he has shown.
Another driver virtually replicating Andreevski's performance this year is Josh Brisbane is his #56 Green 944. Josh also
scored his best ever race and round result last time out at Phillip Island, taking a superb fourth place in the first race
from the back of the pack. Josh has hopefully sorted out the engine issues that plagued him at Winton & Sandown, and
replicate his PI performance.
Back behind the wheel of the #20 Poolmaster Bayside machine he pedaled at Phillip Island earlier in the year is Carter
Fox. After an unfortunate crash in qualifying at Winton ruled him out for the weekend, and repairs not quite finalised on
his car, Carter will look to underline the speed he showed in those races last time out and to battle with the top 5 guys
this weekend and get a good preparation for the 2026 Season.
Manny Mezzasalma has had a troubled season this year int he #10 machine, and will also be looking for a trouble-free
weekend this time out at Phillip Island to also put 2025 to bed and ready himself for a good start to the 2026 season.
A very exciting returnee is Andy Tudor, who will this round be pedalling the #22 Beller Motorsport Red & White 944.
Andy hasn't pedalled a 944 in well over 12 months since his outing at Sandown in 2024 and will be the first time running
this car as he helps stable mate Jack Atley secure a top ten championship result. Welcome back Andy and we hope to
see you back next year for more events!
This round was supposed to see the debut of Nic Scarcella in his newly finished #87 car, however a heartbreaking fire
during a test event earlier in the month has left the car destroyed, and Nic's plans to debut taking a hit. We will
hopefully see him work with some new plans to join the field sometime next year.
We are unfortunately missing a few drivers due to some maintenance, either on their cars, or themselves! Nic Carpenter
& Andrew Goldman are both getting some vehicle upgrades in preparation for 2026, while Michael Westaway and
Andrew Jackman are recovering from some body upgrades! Chris Lewis-Williams is tied up with work commitments,
with a few drivers such as Peter Grant, Lyndon Watson, John Vainoras, Jared Campione & Pedr James all hopefully
rejoining for Round 1, as well as a few new names who are slated to join the ranks next year - 2026 is looking like being a
strong season!
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.