Porsche Sprint Challenge Australia champion Marco Giltrap has kicked off his season in remarkable style, making his debut in the Porsche Sprint Challenge Southern Europe Series at Portimao and securing a spot on the podium.
Representing Team GP Elite, Giltrap demonstrated his skills by finishing in the fifth position during Race 1 and then impressively claiming second place in Race 2.
During the qualifying session on Friday leading up to the opener, Giltrap clocked a fantastic time of 1:44.851, marking the eighth quickest time among a strong field of 28 competitors. He was just 0.658 seconds behind his GP Elite teammate, Ariel Levi, who secured pole position.
In the second qualifying session, Levi continued to dominate, securing pole positions for both races. Marco Giltrap also improved his performance, clocking a time of 1:44.500, narrowly missing out on a front-row lockout for their team by just 0.028 seconds.
During the opening race, Giltrap displayed exceptional racecraft, advancing from his fifth-place starting position. He crossed the finish line in fifth, just seven seconds behind the leading quartet. Giltrap skillfully held off late challenges from Horst Felix Felbermayr and Sacha Norden, while Levi secured the third position.
In Race 2, Giltrap’s stronger qualifying performance paid off as he successfully defended his position against Rousset Louis to secure a second-place finish. Both drivers trailed behind the dominant race leader, Ariel Levi, by 8 seconds and enjoyed a comfortable 6.4-second gap ahead of the fourth-placed driver, Alberto Cerqui.
The Porsche Sprint Challenge Southern Europe Series continues with Round 2 at Estoril, followed by Round 3 in Valencia on February 23-24 and the grand finale at Barcelona on March 1-2.
Fans can look forward to Marco Giltrap’s upcoming Porsche Carrera Cup Australia campaign, which begins at the Melbourne SuperSprint on March 21.
THE PORSCHE Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia Series has been decided across a pair of action-packed sprint races at Mount Panorama.
Nash Morris swept the weekend in Bathurst to claim his second round of the 2023 season, winning the weekend ahead of Hamish Fitzsimmons and Oscar Targett.
Meanwhile, Danny Stutterd claimed the Pro-Am win over Brett Boulton and Sam Shahin, while Brad Carr took the Class B win.
Champions were decided this weekend with Marco Giltrap sealing the Michelin Sprint Challenge crown, and the Jim Richards Endurance Trophy.
Sam Shahin locked in the Pro-Am title while Phil Morris claimed Class B overall by just nine points in the tightest class battle of the three.
Race 2
Nash Morris made it two from two in Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge, controlling Race Two at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst International before a safety car curtailed the event.
Morris and Marcos Flack made an even jump off the front row, however the TekworkX Motorsport driver was aided by the inside line as he maintained his pole advantage at Hell Corner.
Flack would once again go with Morris in the early stages before having a major lose at McPhillamy Park on lap two, surfing through the gravel and losing two spots to Marco Giltrap and Hamish Fitzsimmons.
Morris would skip away after Flack’s moment, as the battle for second between Giltrap and Fitzsimmons intensified.
The race would soon be placed under safety car on lap four as three separate incidents occurred in three different sections of Mount Panorama.
The first incident involved Class runner Jacque Jarjo, who ran deep into Hell Corner and backed his Jacqu Fine Jewellery into the tyre barriers.
Further behind at Murray’s Corner, Pro-Am runner Caspar Tressider spun heading onto Pit Straight, clipping the Class B entry of Dave Allan and sending the LocalsCo car head on into the outside concrete wall.
Just prior to the deployment of the safety car, Giltrap clipped the wall at The Grate after sustaining a puncture, forcing the champion-elect into retirement from second position.
With three separate recoveries required, the race would ultimately finish under yellow flag conditions, with Morris heading Fitzsimmons in TekworkX one-two, with Oscar Targett rounding out the podium.
The Pro-Am class was won by The Bend Motorsport Park’s Sam Shahin in eight outright.
Class B was taken out by Bradley Carr in fifteenth outright for Car Mods Australia, ensuring the Class B title fight would come down to the wire between Phil Morriss, Lachlan Harburg, and Carr.
Race 3
Nash Morris has taken his first career clean sweep in Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge, heading up a TekworkX Motorsport podium lockout in the season finale at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst International.
Morris leapt away from pole position and controlled the race as he had done all weekend long in another impressive performance.
The focus was centred around champion-elect Marco Giltrap, who started from twenty-fifth following his crash in Race Two.
The Team Porsche New Zealand driver made up eight positions on lap one alone, and kept on charging towards the front, including making a move around the outside of Skyline on his way to fourteenth.
The New Zealander’s charge was ultimately halted by a safety car on lap five for Sprint Challenge debutant Slade Orsmond had a big crash at Griffins Bend after spinning on fluid from his damaged radiator.
Morris would cross the line under yellow for the second time in as many races, with teammates Fitzsimmons and Aron Shields in behind.
The Pro-Am class was won by Sprint Challenge returnee Daniel Stutterd in ninth outright for TekworkX Motorsport.
The Class B race was taken out by Autohouse Racing’s Lachlan Harburg in sixteenth outright, whilst the Class B championship went to Phil Morriss for Morriss Racing Service after finishing twenty-fifth outright and fourth in class.
Giltrap already had one hand on the trophy coming in to the weekend, after claiming four wins and never finishing lower than fifth across the entire season. The 19-year-old Porsche rookie took to the series like a veteran, showing supreme confidence from the get-go.
This confidence drove Giltrap to secure the championship in the first race, with a podium result as icing on the cake. The rest of the weekend showed more underwhelming results, but Marco Giltrap left Bathurst as the 2023 Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge champion, and winner of the Jim Richards Endurance Trophy.
This strong season has led to a seat with Team Porsche New Zealand/Earl Bamber Motorsport for the top level 2024 Porsche Carrera Cup Australia season, where he’ll be driving the latest 992 GT3 Cup car.
ARON SHIELDS has claimed a remarkable Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge enduro in South Australia that saw the race result change after the flag and the round result tipped on its head in dramatic fashion.
The wild race had seen Lachlan Bloxsom cross the line first only to be penalized post-race, handing win to Shields and his TekworkX Porsche.
Shields had led the race briefly on two separate occasions before initially crossing the line third behind Bloxsom and Oscar Targett.
A further time penalty for young star Oscar Targett then denied him the round win, handing that honour to series leader Marco Giltrap.
The New Zealand teenager now holds a mighty 171-point lead in the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia standings with 180 up for grabs in the season finale’ at Mount Panorama.
The Sunday race was a thriller from the outset in one of the best displays of one-make Porsche racing this year.
The race commenced in changeable conditions as light rain swept across the circuit.
The unpredictable affair saw Lachlan Bloxsom initially credited with the race win following an absolute thriller that saw five lead changes between four different drivers across its duration.
He led home Oscar Targett, Aaron Shields, Marco Giltrap and Marcos Flack on track – with the top five covered by just 1.5 seconds in one of the most unpredictable races the series has seen.
The pulsating race saw Giltrap take the early lead with positions behind him changing rapidly as conditions gradually improved.
Polesitter Targett dropped to fourth initially before climbing back to second by lap three.
He was then passed by Shields on the 10th lap, the latter then deposing Giltrap for the lead on lap 14 when the former ran wide at Turn 17, dropping off the road briefly before recovering.
Shield’s time in front was short lived however as he was delayed at Turn six on the following lap, taking evasive action as Ross McGregor spun in front of him, handing the lead back to Giltrap and dropping the TekworkX driver back to fourth.
Targett pounced on the climactic lap 19 to grab the lead from Giltrap as Lachlan Bloxsom followed him through to second and Shields to third.
With Flack keeping the leaders in close company in fifth, Bloxsom jumped to the lead on the following lap and then fended off attack after attack from the Grove car across the final 4.9km to cross the line first.
That Bloxsom should have been in the fight at all was remarkable given he very nearly stalled his Bloxsom Team Navy / McElrea entry at the start, his rear wing clipped by another car as he tried to get away.
He crossed the line ninth at the end of lap one however recovered rapidly to carve his way to the field to run third by lap 15 and ultimately pass for the lead with two laps to go.
However, results changed quickly following the race.
Bloxsom was penalized five seconds for contact with Giltrap as the pair battled for position late in the race.
That would have elevated Targett to the potential race win, however he too was penalized, this time having 15 seconds added to his race time for overtaking under yellow flags at Turn one with two laps remaining – just prior to the Bloxsom – Giltrap contact.
The penalties dropped Bloxsom to fifth and Targett to eighth in the final reckoning.
Impressive New Zealand rookie Clay Osborne was also penalised five seconds for a start infringement, as was Pro-Am racer Brett Boulton.
Their penalties saw Osborne – who at one point had run third – finish sixth and Boulton 13th, though he maintained his second position in the Pro-Am class.
With the penalties applied, Marco Giltrap claimed Round 5 over Targett and Marcos Flack.
In Pro-Am, a remarkable comeback drive from Sam Shahin saw him recover from a spin on the formation lap, and a second one on the opening lap, to charge through the field and claim the round overall.
He won the round over Brett Boulton and Matt Slavin.
Class B was a thriller as the older-specification cars ended up dicing in the outright top 10 in the inclement conditions at the start of the race.
The race ended with newc0omer Jacques Jarjo the race winner while Brad Carr took the round.
It means three different drivers claimed the class win this weekend in the best weekend for the 991.1 generation cars yet this year.
More importantly, the Class B title will now go down to the wire at Mount Panorama this November with leader Phil Morriss, Harburg and Carr covered by 79 points.
Pro-Am
Class B
PROVISIONAL SERIES STANDINGS:
Pro-Am
Class B
