Continuing its support of young New Zealand race drivers, Porsche New Zealand has announced that Tom Bewley will be the Porsche Sprint Challenge Australia Scholarship driver for the 2025 season.
The scholarship allows Bewley to race in a 911 GT3 Cup Car, with the support of Team Porsche New Zealand (TPNZ) and Earl Bamber Motorsport in 2025 in the Australian based series.
Fresh from being crowned the New Zealand Toyota 86 Champion for the 2023/24 season Bewley says he is thrilled to take this exciting next step in his career.
“I’m honoured to receive the scholarship, next year is going to be a big year for me but I’m looking forward to doing Porsche New Zealand proud on and off track,” said Bewley.
“I’ve done some early running in a Porsche already, and it’s a big step from a Toyota 86, but I’m ready to learn and grow from the TPNZ / Earl Bamber Motorsport team and look to get some good results in our first season in Australia.”
It has been a long motorsport journey for Bewley, who started in karts when he was six years old. Since then he has won multiple titles in karts before moving into race cars where he spent two years in the Toyota 86 championship – culminating in the championship win for the 2023/24 season.
“The first year in Toyota 86 was a big learning curve but it set me up for my second year perfectly, winning the championship was a big goal of mine.”
Bewley’s Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge season will kick off at the Phillip Island circuit outside of Melbourne in April.
Established in 2019, the scholarship programme has seen young New Zealand drivers compete across Asia and Australasia.
Porsche New Zealand General Manager, Greg Clarke says he’s pleased to welcome Bewley to Team Porsche New Zealand, and thinks the young Kiwi is more than deserving of the opportunity.
“This is the sixth year we’ve run this Porsche scholarship programme for young Kiwi drivers, and we’re thrilled to welcome Tom to the Porsche fold and to compete in Australia next year,” says Greg Clarke, General Manager, Porsche New Zealand.
“We watch the junior categories here in New Zealand closely, and Tom clearly stood out last season. We look forward to seeing him develop further as a driver in Australia under the Earl Bamber Motorsport / Team Porsche New Zealand banner.”
Bewley is the latest in a long line of New Zealand drivers who have used the scholarship to springboard their international careers. The most notable being Callum Hedge who won the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship in 2023, which then saw him move on to the US to compete in the Indy NXT Championship.
“The scholarship has been a massive success as we saw with Callum Hedge winning the top Porsche Championship in Australasia in 2023. But add to that it has seen young Kiwi drivers such as Matthew Payne and Ryan Wood move onto Supercars. The programme is designed to give these young drivers the opportunities to perform and hopefully move onto the next stages of their careers.”
Earl Bamber Motorsport team principal Earl Bamber says he’s excited to see the latest Porsche Sprint Challenge Australia Scholarship recipient emerge out of the local New Zealand motorsport landscape.
“We are excited to announce Tom Bewley as the new recipient of the Team Porsche New Zealand scholarship. He is a well deserving winner and a champion at Toyota 86 which many of our previous drivers have come from. I think he has got an amazing background in racing and a great future in motorsport. ” says Bamber.
“We look forward to being a small part of his big future in motorsport, and hopefully can follow in the footsteps of Matt Payne, Ryan Wood, Callum Hedge and Brock Gilchrist.”
