KIWI young gun Willie Exton has charged to a maiden victory on debut in a dramatic opener to the 2025 Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia Series at Phillip Island.
A topsy-turvy 30-minute opener was filled with excitement as Exton converted pole into a maiden victory – though not without having to work for it first.
Meanwhile, Lachy Harburg claimed his first ever Pro-Am race win and Daniel Quimby opened his account with Class B victory.
Starting from pole, Exton was slower away from the front row and was beaten to turn one by front-row starter Jake Santalucia and Tyler Greenbury, who started from the second row.
There was early drama as Ryan Casha locked his brakes at the hairpin and tumbled down the order, Ramu Farrell another fast starter and leaping to fourth.
The leaders ran close together for the opening laps before Santalucia survived a huge moment at the Hayshed on lap four, running wide before firing across the circuit to the outside of the road at Lukey Heights. The Sonic driver resumed at the back of the field and recovered to 13th position without damage.
That elevated Greenbury to the race lead however his time on point would only last a lap: his Edge Designer Homes car passed by Exton at Turn One on the following lap.
The Kiwi, driving for TekworkX Motorsport, was measured in his performance from there, never headed to deliver a first-up start victory just a few weeks after claiming New Zealand’s GT4 title.
Having run as low as sixth position on the opening lap, Jones Motorsport’s Hunter Robb was a late charger, taking advantage of a last-lap mishap for Tom Bewley to grab second position, with Greenbury third.
Lockie Bloxsom finished a stout fourth, having been relegated to the back of the top-10 in qualifying following an impeding penalty.
With Bewley fifth, Kamal Mrad was a quiet achiever on his debut to finish sixth outright for Cup Car Engineering, while Casha recovered to seventh following his lap one mishap.
Eighth was an elated Lachy Harburg, who claimed a long-awaited maiden Pro-Am class win after a late-race incident dropped early class leader Ramu Farrell down the order.
Farrell and James Lodge were caught up at Turn four which allowed the EBM / The Cover Shop entry past and while Farrell closed rapidly in the closing laps as he recovered, Harburg was able to hold on and claim the class win.
With Farrell ninth, Daniel Quimby completed a strong debut performance for the Cup Car Engineering team to finish 10th outright and first in Class B.
Two races complete the opening Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia round on Sunday at Phillip Island, with both broadcast on 7plus and the third and final race – the opening encounter for the Jim Richards Endurance Trophy – also live on 7mate.
