THE PRESIDENTS REPORT - ROUND 4 PREVIEW
13 Cars are entered for this round, the fourth round of the 2023 944 Challenge Championship as the series returns to the track at Sandown after a long three month break across the Winter months.
The last time the series visited the quick Melbourne circuit, we witnessed one of the most spectacular finishes seen in Porsche 944 Challenge history, with Adam Brewer (#3) leading into the final corner of the race from Chris Lewis-Williams (#37) and Cameron Beller (#55) just behind having come from the rear of the grid – only for Brewer to run wide, allowing Lewis-Williams and Beller through, with Beller using the momentum to edge ahead by the smallest of margins at the chequer.
At Round 2 held at Winton Raceway 4 weeks ago, Beller continued his recovery as he made it a clean sweep with 3 wins from 3 races, before Chris Lewis-Williams bounced back at Round 3 at Phillip Island to take the round honours with two wins and a second, with reigning champion Jamie Westaway making a cameo appearance behind the wheel of Jim Mitchells #46 car to take a win in the wet second race.
The round victory helped Lewis-Williams retain his position on the top of the points ladder, with Adam Brewer one point ahead of Cameron Beller in second place in the 944 championship after finishing the Phillip Island round fourth on points, hampered by a stall on the grid in the wet race from which he could only recover to 8th position.
Cameron Beller sits in third position in the 944 championship, though sits in second place in the Victorian State Race Series pointscore after a consistent weekend, even though he was denied the top step of the podium.
Maintaining his 4th position in the 944 and State Championships after another strong round at Phillip Island is Mr 1800Lasagne, Joey Kellock (#77). Fifth for the weekend helped him solidify his position in the points tally on both points tables, as he opens up a small gap in the points to his stablemate Mark Verdino (#44) Mark was hindered hugely in the points tally after a DNF in the final race at Phillip Island when a touch and a lose under brakes into turn 4 left him bogged in the mud off the circuit and unable to rejoin the race, though is able to retain his 5th position in the points tally.
Holding onto sixth position in the 944 points after a weekend to forget at Phillip Island is Mark Taubitz (#74) where he was hampered by various problems throughout Friday & Saturday before finally having an untroubled run in the last race, but a poor points haul left him only 14th outright for the round, and has slipped to 10th in the State points as a result. Taubitz will be in different colours this weekend, as he jumps behind the wheel of the #20 Poolmaster Bayside 944 usually driven by Andrew Jackman, who has left the country for a warmer climate as he recoups from shoulder surgery.
Another strong weekend was had by Carter Fox (#7) at Phillip Island as he maintained his 8th position in the championship points standings by virtue of a ninth position placing for the round, and also sits in 9th position in the State series points. Carter is poised to move further up on both points championships as he looks forward to a strong weekend at Sandown.
An interesting round at Phillip Island coming off his stunning return to the series at Winton was had by Ryan Woods (#17), with problems during Saturdays session meaning he was unable to start Race 1, and rather than persevere with the issues, went home to pick up his newly purchased 944 and return to the track to give the car its first competitive session on the track! Despite some issues, the speed of the car is evident as he set the fastest lap of the final race, in the first session for the car on a dry circuit! He will be a force to contend with this weekend at Sandown.
Making his first Sandown appearance for the year after missing Round 1 is Josh Brisbane (#56), Josh will be looking for a stronger round after a troublesome weekend at Phillip Island which should see him gain some good points to move him up in the points from his current 13th and 14th positions in the respective championship tables.
Another troublesome weekend was had by veteran Dick Howe (#8) thought the last race saw him move through from the back of the grid to finish in a strong 7th position, thought a race 2 DNF meant he was only 13th for the round, leaving him mired back in 15th position in the championships.
Back behind the wheel of his #46 Martini liveried 944 is Jim Mitchell, after handing the keys over to Jamie Westaway at Phillip Island, Jim will be enthused by the success Jamie had by the wheel and will have no doubt learned some tricks from the two-time champion which he will look to demonstrate this weekend.
Technical problems for Sunday at Phillip Island saw John Vainoras (#32) unable to make the two races on Sunday, though further reliability with the car on Saturday has John excited about the upcoming Sandown round to enable him to move up from his current position of 21st in the championships.
Making his first appearance for the year after being on hiatus after suffering a broken leg at the start of the year is Manny Mezzasalma (#10) - Manny showed some good speed in his last appearances last year, and will hope that his upward trajectory hasn’t been interrupted by his enforced layoff as he gets his series off to a late start and ready for 2024.
Unfortunately, a number of cars will be in garages this weekend for various reasons – with the aforementioned break for Andrew Jackman (#20), Andy Tudor (#15) is also recuperating from a similar operation, as is Andy Jones (#33)– with the latter looking to return to the track in his new car at Phillip Island for Round 5.
Keith Marriner (#64) finds himself unable to compete this weekend due to work commitments leaving him unable to make the event, with Toni Andreevski (#27) and Tim Wolfe (#66) both in Queensland this weekend with Porsche as Tim gets behind the wheel of his Cup Car for the rescheduled Sprint Challenge race at Queensland Raceway this weekend.
Another uncharacteristic ‘Westaway-less’ weekend with Tony (#50) overseas, and having hid the keys from Jamie, he will be spectating this weekend, while Michael (#45) also looks to make a return at the next round of the series at Phillip Island.
Lyndon Watson (#5) are both sadly missing from this round also, as well as Vlad Kennedy (#23) who we expect to also see back at Phillip Island, as well as the welcome return of Sam Rofe who plans his return after a number of years away from the racetrack!
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'd like to get on track and join in the action.
