Tom McLennan says he has never felt more ready for a racing season ahead of his assault on the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge this year.

McLennan will compete in the all-Porsche series, driving for McElrea Racing that kicks off at the famous Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit this weekend.

The Queenslander is coming off the back of five-straight weekends of racing in New Zealand after completing the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championships.

In what was his first motorsport in a high-powered open wheel race car, McLennan scored his best results of the five-round season in the final weekend of the championship at Taupo, and he says that he is ready and raring to go for his return to Porsche racing at Phillip Island.

“The New Zealand experience was awesome and I’m really glad that I did it,” said McLennan.

“The things that I learnt the most were a lot about how to set up a race car, plus race craft, qualifying techniques and to maximise a new green tyre.

“I learnt a heap from it, and the aim will be to transform what I learnt there into my Porsche racing.”

Ahead of his return to Porsche competition, McLennan jumped back behind the wheel of a first generation of the 991 example at Queensland Raceway to reacquaint himself to racing with a roof over his head.

While he will step back into a Gen 2 car for his racing proper with McElrea Racing, he said that it was handy to get back into the groove in the older model car.

“It was nice to step back into the Porsche. Compared to the Formula Regional car, it felt easier, but that is to be expected. They are certainly different machines,” he said.

“It took all day to really get back into the swing, but doing that test was definitely an advantage for me.

“It’s only a two-day race meeting at Phillip Island. There are two practice sessions before we jump into qualifying, so I feel that I will have plenty of time to get right up to speed.”

McLennan is part of a great crop of young talent contesting the 2023 Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge this year.

He says that he expects the competition to be fierce.

“There’s a lot of new guys in the series, plus some who are back for their second or third years,” he said.

“It will be a strong field, for sure, but I have never felt more ready for a season of racing.

“Hopefully we can get some strong results to kick off the year.”

Practice and qualifying will be held at Phillip Island this Saturday, followed by three races on Sunday.