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Thomas Sargent has secured the 2022 Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia Series title in the season finale at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.
Sargent sealed the title by finishing second to Race 1 winner Ryan Wood in the 11-lap encounter, needing to only finish fifth or better to claim the title, after Race 2 was red-flagged.
It caps off a remarkable campaign for the 20-year-old who finished first or second in every race.
“It has been a very, very hard-fought year. It was a late year due to Covid; we started quite late and since then has been very awesome to have all this racing at the end of the year,” Sargent said.
“The racing has been awesome between Ryan, myself and the rest of the field so I’ve learnt so much about Porsche driving and racecraft.
“I have had a great time and I’m super stoked to have wrapped up the series, it’s something we want to achieve and it’s been amazing to do it with the CHE Racing Team again.
“This car has a lot of pedigree having won the Carrera Cup championship with Cameron and now Sprint challenge with myself.
“That was one good thing coming into this year; we knew where we stood with the car and the team, so it came down to me and it showed in the end.”
The race was a fitting finale to this year’s title battle that has resulted in Sargent securing a drive with McElrea Racing in the Porsche Carrera Cup North America Series in 2023 while Wood will step up to Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia in 2023 with Team Porsche New Zealand.
The duo raced hard in the early stages before Wood broke free of a four-car battle to take the chequered flag by 3.6877s.
Aron Shields won the fight for the final podium spot in the series standings by passing Courtney Prince for third on the opening lap and successfully defending from her until the penultimate lap, when Lachlan Bloxsom made his way past the Sonic Motor Racing Services driver on Turn 4 to snatch fourth.
Fifth-placed Prince finished ahead of Jason Miller, Daniel Stutterd and Madeline Stewart.
Brett Boulton secured the Morris Finance Pro-Am class title with a ninth-place finish, finishing ahead of fellow Pro-Am class competitor Ben Stack in 10th with David Greig completing the class podium for the race.
Despite being involved in an incident with Adrian Flack on the exit of Turn 4 on the opening lap, Sam Shahin finished 23rd to seal second in the Pro-Am class standings, with Andrew Goldie crossing the line in 15th to claim third for the season.
Lachlan Harburg took out the Class B title with a 20th place finish needing to merely complete the race without incurring any penalties to do so.
Class B title runner-up Jacob Li picked up the race honours with a 12th place result, crossing the line ahead of Bradley Carr with Nathan Sticklen securing third in the class series standings after finishing 19th in the race.
