THIS weekend might be the first time Tom Bewley has raced on a street circuit – but it hasn’t slowed the Kiwi star down: his Team Porsche NZ / EBM entry topping the charts in a competitive day of practice at the NTI Townsville 500. 

Bewley topped the second of two, 25-minute practice sessions today, a session that turned out to be something of a qualifying simulation, as the field bolted brand-new Michelin tyres on for a crack at fast lap times.

He edged out championship leader Jake Santalucia by just 0.09 seconds with a 1m14.2644s lap that was 0.2 seconds quicker than the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge qualifying record set last year.

The session started slowly but built to a crescendo as multiple drivers took turns at topping the charts.

Bewley, who sits second in the championship, has been the king of the consistency this season and will be keen to continue that form this weekend – while championship leader Santalucia looks to build his narrow, 38-point lead as they move to the second half of the 2025 season.

Third was McElrea Racing’s Lockie Bloxsom while fellow Carrera Cup ringer, Marcos Flack, was fourth in the second Sonic entry.

James Lodge was fifth and Tyler Greenbury sixth but both within 0.5 seconds of the quickest time, while Ryan Casha was only fractionally further behind in seventh position.

Willie Exton was next, while Hunter Robb and Pro-Am class pacesetter Ramu Farrell completed the top-10.

It was Farrell’s first street circuit experience with his best lap 1.5s away from the quickest outright time.

Jacque Jarjo was second in Pro-Am with Lachlan Harburg third in what is shaping as another competitive race within a race this weekend.

Daniel Quimby continued his strong run in Class B but also impressively ended the second session twelfth outright – despite missing all of the first session following a radiator drama on his McElrea-run entry.

The day was relatively trouble-free for the 26-strong Porsche field as they build towards an early start on Saturday, Qualifying set to commence at 7:35am local time ahead of the first race at 10:50am.

Both sessions will be shown live on Fox Sports 506 and Kayo Sports tomorrow.