Teenage motor racing driver Tom Bewley is currently the standout driver in the Australian Porsche Carrera Cup championship after setting back-to-back pole times in his rookie season.
Bewley took a career-best pole at Queensland Raceway and then backed it up with pole at Adelaide’s The Bend, but his biggest challenge is now off track.
The 18-year-old needs to find more sponsorship to keep his impressive season alive. The current Porsche New Zealand scholarship car driver continues to deliver, but heading into the final three rounds he is searching for new partners to come on board his Earl Bamber Motorsport-run Porsche 992 GT3 Cup Car.
“We’ve grateful to all our loyal supporters that continue to back me but we need a few more to get us through the season,” said Bewley.
“I know it’s difficult out there [economically] but we’re hoping to find some more support. Hopefully we can see a few new names appear on the car at Bathurst and the Gold Coast.”
Bewley raced the all-black car at The Bend last weekend without a title sponsor, taking another pole and his best race result so far.
“This pole felt better than the first one which people thought might have been a bit of a fluke but to go back-to-back and be just in front of Harri [Jones] again was pretty cool,” he said, Jones a double champion who is currently leading the 2026 series.
“After practice two I knew the car was really good on old tyres so going into qualifying I knew I just had to put it together on new tyres. I didn’t quite do it on the first set but definitely knew I could do a way better lap time on the second set.”
Bewley then set the benchmark and sat-out the final minutes of the session hoping his fastest lap time wouldn’t be bettered.
“That’s two rounds now I’ve come in earlier than everyone else but I knew myself I couldn’t go any quicker, I had got the max out of the tyre so it would have been a waste of tyre to keep going.
“It was definitely nerve-wracking to watch Harri go over the line. You can see the projected time they’re going to do and every time Harri was down I was celebrating a little bit.”
Bewley not only set the pole time for the first race, but his second-best lap was also good enough for a P3 start in the final race, which was ultimately abandoned due to heavy rain that started just before the cars were due to go out on the circuit.
“Knowing I had pretty good pace over two laps and not far off two front-row starts was pretty satisfying after we made such huge improvements to the car.”
At Queensland Raceway, a mistake by Bewley left him stranded with clutch failure at the start of the race from pole, but at The Bend he managed to get away cleanly.
“Definitely not my best start, all a little bit rushed; once again I couldn’t quite see the 5-second board and the lights. On the run to turn one I could have gone for a move back on Harri but it was going to be a fifty-fifty move which after the results I’ve had so far in the races I didn’t need another penalty or a dnf so played it safe.
“We kind of reinvented the whole setup going into race one, as I haven’t been comfortable so far in the races and saving the tyre. It took me a few laps to get used to it and I made a couple of mistakes over the opening laps and dropped to third.
“Then we found some good pace, running as fast as the guys behind me and started to drive away until the safety car. I didn’t have the pace at the restart, drove down the inside of the track a couple of times and got really dirty tyres. Then got a bit of a rub-up by Aaron [Love], who forced his way through.”
Nevertheless, his fourth place at the chequered flag was one place better than his best result so far this season. Bewley said he was looking forward to either a dry or wet 45-minute second race but heavy showers over the circuit forced it to be abandoned while the cars were circulating behind the safety car.
“I haven’t driven this car in the wet, but I think I would have managed it alright. Once we drove out there with the wets on and did those two laps behind the safety car, it was way too sketchy; we were aquaplaning at 60 kph. Glad they didn’t run it, but disappointed we didn’t get to do another race.”
Bewley’s next chance to race will be in early October at Mount Panorama, when Porsche Equity-One Carrera Cup Australia supports the Bathurst 1000.
“It’s cool to have two poles but you need the race results to go with that. I think going to The Bend I put a little bit of pressure on myself because I was aiming for pole and didn’t want anything less than that, but I know for the last three rounds anything in the top five will be a really good effort,” he added.
The season closes with three street circuits as part of the V8 Supercars calendar, Bathurst, the Gold Coast and Adelaide with no pre-testing, and Bewley with no previous experience.
In the meantime, Bewley and his #89 team are hoping to find new title sponsors for these events so he can continue his impressive rookie season, his fourth-ever in motor racing.
So far, Bewley’s campaign is supported by Porsche New Zealand and Earl Bamber Motorsport, along with Dura-Seal, Clipped Assist, NAPA, the Tony Quinn Foundation and Adtorque Edge.
Header Image: Supplied
