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Champions to be crowned at Island Magic

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: November 23, 2022

The Island Magic event will be a fairytale for some with two champions to be crowned at the famous Victorian circuit this weekend.

Both the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Series and Victorian Sports Sedans Series will be decided at Phillip Island and could go down to the wire.

 The battle for the Porsche Pro Championship has been a two-horse race between Thomas Sargent and Ryan Wood, but only one will emerge on top.

The pair has dominated 2022, finishing in the top two in four of the five rounds.

Sargent heads to the Island on the front foot with a 32-point lead having finished first or second in every race.

But with 180 points still up for grabs Wood fancies his chances of an upset after overcoming his rival in the latest race at Bathurst.

Ryan Wood hopes to take down Thomas Sargent in the season finale at Phillip Island.

After finishing second best in both the 2018 and 19 Morris Pro-Am Championships, Brett Boulton hopes his 99-point advantage over Sam Shahin will be enough to snap his hoodoo and score a maiden title.

Other frontrunners could be Ben Stack and Adrian Flack.

The battle of the Class B for Gen I cars is still wide open with Lachlan Harburg and Nathan Sticklen split by just 38 points.

The duo are not the only ones on contention, however, with round 5 winner Jacob Li being only 24 points further back with strong momentum.

Thomas Sargent will be focused on winning a tight fight for the 2022 Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge title this weekend.

With 31 Porsches ready to race, the sixth and final round of the season at Phillip Island will be the largest of the year and a new record at the Victorian circuit, ensuring 2022 will finish with a bang, no matter who is crowned champion.

There is also a grandstand finish anticipated for the Victorian Sports Sedans with only 13 points separating the top three.

Josh Ippolito leads the way being the only driver to score more than 300 points in his HSV Clubsport.

Closely behind him sit Tony Groves in his MARC V8 Mazda 3 and Francois Habib and his Holden VZ Commodore decked out in 2005 Jamie Whincup Tasman Motorsport colours.

Groves and Habib sit eight and 13 points behind Ippolito respectively, but with a maximum of 100 points up for grabs, it is anyone’s guess who will be Victorian Sports Sedans champion at Island Magic.

Francois Habib hopes to channel the same speed he showed at Sandown in his dodo colours at Phillip Island.

Groves carries the momentum having won the latest round in Sandown ahead of Dean Camm and Habib, but Ippolito still managed to take out the Floor Plan class.

Victorian Sports Sedans president Colin Smith said there could be a lot of shuffling in the championship standings during the exciting finale.

“It is going to be pretty tight with them (the top three) and there is also an outside chance fourth, fifth and sixth can get into the top three as well,” he said.

In addition to the thrilling title fight there will be a wildcard thrown into the mix.

Michael Robinson and his Holden Monaro will be taking on the flowing track and Smith believes he could have a big say on the outcome of the championship.

Micheal Robinson is a national competitor has entered for the weekend which is great,” Smith said.

“He will be the fly in the ointment because if he wins than it knocks the others back and they are getting less points, so it could open it up.”

Tony Groves is a championship contender in his MARC Mazda.

The weekend begins with two short sprint races where 30 points are on offer in each race.

But the meeting is headlined by the 50km Plate where 40 points are up for grabs and Smith said everyone will be pushing hard to win the most prestigious race of the season.

“The 50km Plate has been the marquee event for 30-odd years and the feature race for sports sedans,” he said.

“It is the one that everyone wants to win.”

The Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge and Sports Sedans are just two of the nine categories in action at the Island Magic which takes place this Friday and Saturday.

For more of the latest motorsport news pick up the latest issue of AUTO ACTION.

AUTO ACTION, Australia’s independent voice of motorsport.

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