THE PORSCHE Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia Series has been decided across a pair of action-packed sprint races at Mount Panorama. 

Nash Morris swept the weekend in Bathurst to claim his second round of the 2023 season, winning the weekend ahead of Hamish Fitzsimmons and Oscar Targett.

Meanwhile, Danny Stutterd claimed the Pro-Am win over Brett Boulton and Sam Shahin, while Brad Carr took the Class B win.

Champions were decided this weekend with Marco Giltrap sealing the Michelin Sprint Challenge crown, and the Jim Richards Endurance Trophy.

Sam Shahin locked in the Pro-Am title while Phil Morris claimed Class B overall by just nine points in the tightest class battle of the three.

Race 2

Nash Morris made it two from two in Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge, controlling Race Two at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst International before a safety car curtailed the event.

Morris and Marcos Flack made an even jump off the front row, however the TekworkX Motorsport driver was aided by the inside line as he maintained his pole advantage at Hell Corner.

Flack would once again go with Morris in the early stages before having a major lose at McPhillamy Park on lap two, surfing through the gravel and losing two spots to Marco Giltrap and Hamish Fitzsimmons.

Morris would skip away after Flack’s moment, as the battle for second between Giltrap and Fitzsimmons intensified.

The race would soon be placed under safety car on lap four as three separate incidents occurred in three different sections of Mount Panorama.

The first incident involved Class runner Jacque Jarjo, who ran deep into Hell Corner and backed his Jacqu Fine Jewellery into the tyre barriers.

Further behind at Murray’s Corner, Pro-Am runner Caspar Tressider spun heading onto Pit Straight, clipping the Class B entry of Dave Allan and sending the LocalsCo car head on into the outside concrete wall.

Just prior to the deployment of the safety car, Giltrap clipped the wall at The Grate after sustaining a puncture, forcing the champion-elect into retirement from second position.

With three separate recoveries required, the race would ultimately finish under yellow flag conditions, with Morris heading Fitzsimmons in TekworkX one-two, with Oscar Targett rounding out the podium.

The Pro-Am class was won by The Bend Motorsport Park’s Sam Shahin in eight outright.

Class B was taken out by Bradley Carr in fifteenth outright for Car Mods Australia, ensuring the Class B title fight would come down to the wire between Phil Morriss, Lachlan Harburg, and Carr.

Race 3

Nash Morris has taken his first career clean sweep in Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge, heading up a TekworkX Motorsport podium lockout in the season finale at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst International.

Morris leapt away from pole position and controlled the race as he had done all weekend long in another impressive performance.

The focus was centred around champion-elect Marco Giltrap, who started from twenty-fifth following his crash in Race Two.

The Team Porsche New Zealand driver made up eight positions on lap one alone, and kept on charging towards the front, including making a move around the outside of Skyline on his way to fourteenth.

The New Zealander’s charge was ultimately halted by a safety car on lap five for Sprint Challenge debutant Slade Orsmond had a big crash at Griffins Bend after spinning on fluid from his damaged radiator.

Morris would cross the line under yellow for the second time in as many races, with teammates Fitzsimmons and Aron Shields in behind.

The Pro-Am class was won by Sprint Challenge returnee Daniel Stutterd in ninth outright for TekworkX Motorsport.

The Class B race was taken out by Autohouse Racing’s Lachlan Harburg in sixteenth outright, whilst the Class B championship went to Phil Morriss for Morriss Racing Service after finishing twenty-fifth outright and fourth in class.