THE PRESIDENT'S REPORT - ROUND 4 PREVIEW - WINTON MOTOR RACEWAY.

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This round of the series is proudly presented by TYREPOWER BENALLA

This weekend sees 15 Drivers embark head back to Winton Motor Raceway circuit, located on the fringes of Victoria’s high country for Round 4 of the 2026 944 Challenge Championship as part of the famed Winton Festival of Speed event for the second time. This time, the 944’s will be joined on track by their German cousins, the BMW E30 series who will share the circuit for 5 races this weekend with this round of the series being proudly presented by local business Tyrepower Benalla. 

Making up for the disappointment of Calder where he suffered a Gearbox failure in Race 2 while leading, Adam Brewer (#81)  was able to rebound to take the Round win at Winton for the Vic State Round Calder as he was able to take a Victory in Race 2, which was bookended by a pair of second places in Races 1 & 3 to put him back into a narrow championship lead in the 944 Championship Points.  

Continuing his strong and consistent 2026 season is Chris Lewis-Williams, with the driver of the #37 Tyrepower Benalla Porsche 944 able to improve his results as the Winton weekend wore on, starting with a third in Race 1, a second in a wet race 2 before triumphing with a victory in the sopping final race. Having finished on the podium position in 8 out of 9 races, Chris' consistency is bearing fruit as he sits just three points behind Brewer once factoring in the dropped worst round rule, but has a strong lead in the Vic State Championship with two rounds to go.  

Jamie Westaway started his Winton weekend off in the strongest way possible by taking a Race 1 victory, but suffered in the wet Sunday conditions. A third-place finish in Race 2 following a spin exiting Turn 7 while he was challenging Brewer for the lead, before a DNF after a second aquaplane under brakes for Turn 3 in Race 3 put an end to his race as he was stuck in the gravel, dropping him back to third place in both season pointscores as a result.  

Yet another weekend that showed good promise for Mark Taubitz in his refreshed #22 Pipecraft car with a fourth-place position in qualifying turning into third place on the heels of Brewer and Westaway before a delaminating tyre caused him to spin a couple laps from home dropping him back to eighth position at the finish. A flat battery in pre-grid saw him unable to grid up for the Race 2 start and resigned to commence from pit lane once the rest of the field departed, but a solid race saw him finish fifth before securing a fourth- place finish in the final race. He now sits in fifth position in both series pointscores.  

Another challenging weekend for Cameron Beller by his standards, with the #1 again adorning the Red & White Beller Motorsport machine that was called into action on Sunday at Calder for this weekend at Winton. Cam took time to adapt to the right-hand drive layout of this car and had a reasonable first race finishing in fourth position. An early spin in Race 2 dropped him to the back of the pack - but he wasn’t alone in doing this, and was able to pick off those who suffered similar misfortune to again finish in fourth place, before improving that position by one spot in the very wet final race, moving him up to sixth in the championship standings. He will again have the same car out for this weekend as the cyan machine undergoes a rejuvenation process! 

A tricky weekend for Sam Rofe in the #68 Porsche 944 at Winton, a decent Saturday yielded a 9th place finish, but issues in the wet, the most serious being his wiper working its way off the shaft so he had zero visibility in the final race 3 left him no option but to retire in the final race. Some updates to the car in the short break has Sam hoping that will result in a further improvement in performance, and to cure some of the braking issues that plagued him at Calder Park. 

Another having mixed fortunes at Winton was Andrew Goldman in the #333 Carpet Shed 944, a start line touch with Manny Mezzasalma saw him spear across the infield and into retirement in Race 1, before rebounding on Sunday and recording a ninth place finish in the wet before improving to a seventh-place finish in the very wet final race.  

Another strong outing for Josh Brisbane in the #56 Green machine, a sixth place on Saturday before slipping back to tenth in Race 2, and improving one position to ninth in Race 3, hampered by having to come to a complete stop to avoid the spinning Andrew Goldman in Race 2. Three solid finishes however moves him up to 8th position in the points after the correction for the dropped worst round. 

Returning to competition after spending the last round behind the microphone with the commentary team is Tony Westaway, this weekend jumping behind the wheel of the #71 Apple car owned by Mark Taubitz. Tony has run the #20 Poolmaster machine on his previous outings this year, so this will prove a new challenge in learning another new car as Tony will look to move back ahead of his brother Michael who will be missing the round after recent shoulder surgery in the Veterans Cup Championship. 

Welcome returns for their first outings for 2026 will be Nick Carpenter aboard the #14 machine fresh from an engine refresh, as well as Peter Grant in car #84 who will be doing double duty in the Fitzy cup aboard his 968 Club Sport. 

Another welcome return to the series is Ryan Woods in the #17 car, returning to the venue where he last performed so well back in 2023 aboard the car now owned by Carpenter. Ryan will no doubt be a force to be reckoned with this weekend as he has always shown plenty of pace right back as far as when he won on debut in the series at Phillip Island back in 2016. 

A new entry joining the category this weekend is Pat Klein in the #19 car formerly owned by Rob Holding. Pat is champing at the bit to begin his racing career having cut his teeth in sprints with Alfa Romeos, and will be easing himself in as he learns the ropes this weekend. 

Also joining for a guest drive with the 944 Challenge this weekend are a couple of seasoned competitors in Kerry Bright, and Dom Leo. Kerry is a regular in the Vic Saloon car series driving a VY Commodore and will be campaigning the familiar #20 Poolmaster Bayside car of Andrew Jackman, while Dom Leo, an experienced Historic Touring Car competitor who will be doing double duty this weekend behind the wheel of a 65 Mustang as well as the #74 Black & Gold 944 owned by Mark Taubitz. We wish both our guest drivers the best of luck this weekend and hope they have a great time on track! 

A few drivers will be missing from the action this weekend, with Lyndon Watson being a sad omission this round, while Carter Fox will also miss the round along with Andy Jones, with all three drivers expected to return Sandown in two weeks time. Michael Westaway and Andrew Jackman are out with recent operations, while Manny Mezzasalma is overseas and will miss the next two events  

With a number of more drivers debuting in the upcoming rounds of the championship, the 2026 season is shaping up to be a hotly contested one! If you like what you see, a couple of top level cars have come onto the market - come and join in on the action for the rest of the championship!