Victory and One-Hour (Class 1-3) South Island Endurance Series title for Michels

Southland’s Jordan Michels has won the final round of the 2025 One-Hour South Island Endurance Series for Class 1,2 & 3 cars and in doing so claimed the 2025 title. Second home at the Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell was Nigel Cromie (Porsche GT3 Cup 992) ahead of Luke Manson (Porsche GT3 Cup 992), Steve Brooks (Porsche GT3 Cup 992) and Vin Schelp (Porsche GT3 Cup 992). Michel’s has been quickest over the three-round series, with three pole positions but has had to work hard to win the overall title.

“It’s nice to wrap up the series with a pole and a win today at Highlands,” commented Michels. “We threw everything at it today as we need this result so big thanks to the team and sponsors. It means heaps to us all as we are very much a family team. It’s made just that little bit more satisfying after the last round heartbreak.”

Michels should have won the second round at his home track a fortnight ago after leading for 51 minutes before a gearbox issue dropped him down the order to finish fifth.

Heading into the final third round, Michels was third overall just three points behind the second placed pairing of Steve Brooks and Bill Riding. With an 18-point advantage, overall leader, Hugh Gardiner who had won the first two rounds, did not enter the finale thus opening the title fight between Brooks/Riding, Michels, Paul Kelly (Porsche GT3 Cup 992), and Schelp.

A long safety car period on Saturday at Highlands saw a delay of compulsory pitstops until after the halfway mark. While Michels had the race under control, behind him was some of the best racing of the day, particularly between a gaggle of Porsche drivers for the remaining podium positions with Cromie coming out on top.

We threw everything at it today as we need this result so big thanks to the team and sponsors. It means heaps to us all as we are very much a family team.

“That was amazing,” said Cromie. “This is a track that I like so an awesome race. I didn’t think I had enough pace, but it seemed to all come together and with a bit of luck.”

In the individual Class competitions, Michels picks up the Class 1 title while Vin Schelp’s consistency across three races sees him win Class 2 ahead of John Beck (Porsche 991.1) and Jaden Ransley (Ford Falcon SuperTourer). The Class 3 title went to Steve Scoles (Ginetta G56) ahead of Pel Arnott (Hyundai i30N TCR) and Russell McKenzie (Porsche Cayman GT4RS).