Tom Bewley joins GT New Zealand Championship at Hampton Downs

Rising motor racing star Tom Bewley has entered this weekend’s Summerset GT New Zealand championship at Hampton Downs in a one-off racing appearance before taking up his scholarship season in the Porsche Sprint Challenge in Australia.

The Hawkes’ Bay teenager will drive a Porsche GT3 that has been set-up to the same specification he will race in Australia this year. Bewley will use the on-track sessions as valuable pre-season testing in a mixed field of cars, unlike the one-make series he is heading to.

“The main difference with the car for this weekend is the anti-locking brake system, ABS, has been removed so I can get used to driving the car like this, preparing for Australia,” said Bewley.

“ABS assists you in the braking so if you push the pedal too hard it won’t lock-up the tyre and give you a flat-spot. Without it you can get more feel and performance out of the brake, but you are at risk of locking up a tyre and causing a flat-spot, or going off,” he said.

Apart from being able to test a car prepared for the Australian rules, by entering a race meeting the just turned 17-year-old will get to experience qualifying and driving in three races as well.

“It’s hard to know where you’ll fit in as there’ll be a lot of different cars racing. We’ll just do our own thing and see where we are, but if I get confident with the car without ABS I’m sure I can be as quick as everybody else.”

Owned by Raana Horan, run by Mackenzie Motorsport and backed by Dura-Seal, who’ve supported Bewley since he entered car racing, it is the familiar gold and black car Bewley raced to second place on debut at the same track last year during the final round of the 2024 North Island Endurance Series.

After winning the Toyota 86 championship last season, the 17-year-old was chosen by Porsche New Zealand as the latest recipient of their annual scholarship, which has seen a number of young Kiwi drivers graduate to higher levels of racing in Australia, including V8 Supercars. Supported by Team Porsche New Zealand and Earl Bamber Motorsport, the Porsche Mihelin Sprint Challenge has six rounds, starting in early April and finishing mid-November.