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Shields chasing title in youngest Sprint Challenge field

Porsche Sprint Challenge PI

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: April 9, 2024

The 2024 Porsche Sprint Challenge Australia season begins this weekend when the youngest Pro field ever will tackle Phillip Island.

The 26-car field also incorporates Pro Am and Class B has an average age of just 20 with a number of rookies stepping up.

They all face the challenge of three races around the iconic sweeping bends of Phillip Island at the SpeedSeries event this weekend.

But one of the Sprint Challenge returnees is Aron Shields, who is determined to go one better than last year after being the runner-up to Marco Giltrap after making the switch to DNA Autosport.

“I am going for the championship win that I just missed out on last year,” he said.

“Had a pole and multiple race wins last year and will be looking to add to that tally as the season progresses.

“Obviously, I’m very aware of how competitive this series is and have been working extremely hard in the offseason to improve my level.”

In addition to Shields, other top four Porsche Sprint Challenge championship finishers Oscar Targett and Hamish Fitzsimmons return for shots at the title, as does West Aussie Caleb Sumich.

Looking to take the challenge to them will be a big rookie pack including Australian Formula Ford series runner-up, 16-year-old Jake Santalucia and current New Zealand GT4 Champion, Brock Gilchrist.

Gilchrist will not be the only Kiwi on the grid with Clay Osborne, who had a two-round cameo last year and speedway driver with a fast name Ayrton Hodgson also on show.

Slade Orsmond will be looking to build from his Bathurst debut last year while Ben Taylor and Conor Somers both step up from open wheel backgrounds. The only non-Junior driver among the 12 Pro entries is Tyler Greenbury.

Pro Am is anticipated to be tight with 2022 Class B champ Lachy Harburg and 10-time race winner Brad Carr stepping up.

In Class B reigning champion Phil Morris has five others looking to steal his crown.

The cars hit the track on Friday with practice and qualifying, ahead of the first race at 14:45pm on Saturday afternoon.

The first race in the Porsche Sprint Challenge Jim Richards Endurance Trophy campaign kicks off Sunday’s program at 9:20am, followed by the finale at 12:55pm.

2024 Porsche Sprint Challenge entry list

No Car # C/L  SPONSOR DRIVER SURNAME STATE MAKE MODEL
1 3 Pro-Am Racing To Beat FA Jonathan Gliksten VIC Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II
2 4 Pro Grove Racing / EBM Oscar Targett QLD Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II
3 5 Class B Jacque Fine Jewellery Jacque Jarjo NSW Porsche GT3 Cup Gen I
4 6 Pro Tyler Greenbury Racing Tyler Greenbury QLD Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II
5 7 Pro AeroAscent / InnovationTANK / EBM Slade Orsmond QLD Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II
6 8 Pro-Am Car Mods Australia Bradley Carr QLD Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II
7 10 Pro Team Porsche NZ / EBM Brock Gilchrist NZ Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II
8 11 Pro-Am Aera Cloud & Cyber Security Group Eric Constantinidis NSW Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II
9 14 Pro McElrea Racing Caleb Sumich WA Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II
10 15 Pro Power and Earth . Com Clay Osborne NZ Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II
11 16 Pro TekworkX Motorsport Hamish Fitzsimmons QLD Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II
12 25 Pro auticon / Porsche Centre Melbourne Motorsport Ben Taylor VIC Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II
13 28 Pro McElrea Racing Ayrton Hodson NZ Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II
14 35 Pro-Am Rentcorp Hyundai Forklift Indiran Padayachee NSW Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II
15 37 Pro-Am Bondi Carpets / Team DNA Andrew Georgiadis NSW Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II
16 47 Class B Effect Buuilding Projects Stephen Moylan NSW Porsche GT3 Cup Gen I
17 71 Pro Sonic / Hi Tech Field Services Conor Somers VIC Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II
18 84 Pro-Am Bold Living Brett Boulton QLD Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II
19 86 Class B Morriss Racing Service Phil Morriss VIC Porsche GT3 Cup Gen I
20 87 Pro-Am DW Motorsport David Greig VIC Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II
21 91 Pro-Am The Cover Shop / EBM Lachlan Harburg QLD Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II
22 99 Pro-Am Westcoast Windows / Southern Star Windows Ross McGregor VIC Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II
23 116 Pro Astrontech / DNA Autosport Aron Shields NSW Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II
24 702 Pro-Am TekworkX Motorsport Daniel Stutterd VIC Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II
25 777 Pro Sonic / Vision One Jake Santalucia VIC Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II
26 888 Pro-Am Kaldewelg Auto Ramu Farrell QLD Porsche GT3 Cup Gen II

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