PORSCHE 944 CHALLENGE - ROUND 1 2025 PREVIEW!
Porsche Cars Australia
Melbourne Paving
Butchers Diner
L K Diesel Service
Don Watson Transport
AVi Technology
Poolmaster Bayside
Bowdens Own Car Care Products
Trico
888 Home Loans
Pit Lane Clothing
18 Drivers have entered for the First Round of the 2025 944 Challenge Championship, as the category returns to the Home of Horsepower - Sandown Raceway, in the South East of Melbourne. This round of the series is proudly presented by Melbourne Paving.
Returning to defend his championship from 2024 is Cameron Beller, with the #1 again adorning the Beller Motorsport car. He will once again have to prove himself against a tough field of protagonists hoping to stop him going back-to-back. This will be led by 4-time Champion Chris Lewis-Williams aboard the #37 Tyrepower 944, and 2-time champion Jamie Westaway behind the wheel of the #28 machine.
After finishing the 2024 season in the runner-up position, Mark Verdino will also be looking to improve on that result in 2025 and wrestle the championship from Beller in his #44 Sidelink machine, as will Adama Brewer, who was in championship contention up until the Calder Park round where a points penalty ruled him out of a chance to take the trophy, but he will again be fast in the #3 AVi Technology car.
Mark Taubitz will be back in the new #71 car, after scoring his first career race wins in 2024, Mark will be looking to unlock some more pace in the Apple Computer liveried car to join the fast 5 at the front of the championship battle consistently.
Carter Fox returns for 2025 with the #7 car, as he will look to continue his upward trajectory that he showed in the second half of 2024, as does Tony Westaway in the familiar Yellow #50 car, both drivers having the pace to mix it at the front of the field this weekend.
Andrew Jackman wheels out his familiar #20 Poolmaster Bayside for Round 1 where he will be looking to make life hard for the front runners, as will newcomer Peter Grant in the #84 Porsche who showed flashes of impressive speed in his rookie year last year.
Also starting his second season of 944 Competition is Nick Carpenter in the Melbourne Paving #14 car, Nick will have aspirations to move further up the field as he will set his sights on finishes further into the top 10, ditto Jack Atley, who again will be behind the wheel of the Andy Tudor owned #35 Pit Lane Clothing backed machine as Jack also targets the top ten and beyond on a regular basis.
An aborted return last year for Sam Rofe in the beautiful #68 car after engine woes curtailed his return, Sam has a new engine and will be looking to contest the 2025 season as he blows out the cobwebs and re-familiarises himself with his car, and the circuits!
Also returning after missing the back end of the 2024 season are Jared Campione in the #88 Campione Electrics machine, and Manny Mezzasalma in the #10 car. Both drivers have had work carried out on their cars in the off-season and will also be looking to move themselves up the running order with some strong results in 2025.
Andrew Goldman also makes a return to competition with the #333 Carpet Shed 944, with a fresh powerplant after a failure at The Bend last year ended his season prematurely. Andrew will be another who will improve as he gets more comfortable with his 944 as the season progresses.
Also returning is John Vainoras, after suffering more issues with his car last year, it's hoped that he has got the issues sorted finally in the #32 car.
An unfortunate late withdrawal is Lyndon Watson in the #5 Watson Transport car, Lyndon will likely miss the first few rounds but we look forward to him joining the championship in the back half of the year.
Unfortunately, we will be missing one of the Westaway brothers, with Michael not competing this weekend after plans to enter derailed at the last minute. We look forward to having him return for Round 2, along with Keith Marriner and the return of Andy Jones – plus a couple more new, and familiar names to the 944 Challenge field expected to hit the track for Round 2 / 3!
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. .
