Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Round 1

Phillip Island Circuit

Published on Wednesday, 1st of April 2026

The awesome MR crew and Sprint Challenge drivers had completed a solid test program leading up to the start of the 2026 championship.

We are proud to welcome Daniel, Kamal, Kent and Tim back plus we are thrilled to welcome Anthony Gilbertson back to the team. ‘Gilbo’ won the 2017 Michelin Sprint Challenge Pro-Am championship, before winning races in Carrera Cup, then he took a 6-year retirement to focus on business, so we are hoping he can regain his impressive form to the benefit of himself, plus Pro-Am teammates Kent and Tim.

We are also very excited about the potential of Daniel and Kamal as these kids are absolute outright championship contenders in 2026.

McElrea Racing crew at Phillip Island Circuit 2026

Kamal Mrad #7

Pro, Michelin Junior

Louis Kapitsas

Lewis Dickerson

2^nd

Kamal had a ripper first lap in race 1 surging from 8th to 5th on the first lap, then he took another 3 places by the chequered flag.

Although Kamal dropped one position off the start of race 2, he drove very well to maintain 3rd in a frantic lead pack.

In race 3 he got a better start and raced hard in the lead pack, eventually finishing 3rd on the road. Unfortunately, he was issued a post-race penalty dropping him to 7th in race 3 but still took 2nd for the round.

Kamal Mrad #7 racing at Phillip Island Circuit 2026

Daniel Quimby #24

Pro, Michelin Junior

Louis Kapitsas

Tim McCumstie

DNF

10^th

Daniel had a bad start in race 1 dropping to 9th before a cracking drive back up to 4th.

In race 2 he had another rugged start and first lap, dropping from 4th to 6th, but he put his head down and passed Diesel Thomas to finish 5th.

He had another average start in race 3 but once he got into his rhythm, he was the fastest car on track pulling many extraordinary passing moves on his way to the lead of the race. He was pulling a comfortable lead when he picked up a puncture which forced him to a completely unfair DNF.

Daniel Quimby #24 racing at Phillip Island Circuit 2026

Anthony Gilbertson #19

Pro-Am

Leigh Geyer

Stewart Notley-Smith

1^st

Gilbo dropped to 3rd on the first lap of race 1 before a comeback drive to the Pro-Am lead and an impressive 8th outright.

In race 2 Gilbo lead the Pro-Am field until he was pushed off line by a bolshy pro driver, but he worked his way back to the lead car and made an awesome move to take the lead on the last lap.

In race 3 Gilbo simply dominated Pro-Am, racing against the younger Pro drivers on his way to a clean sweep a mere 3,186 days since his last round victory at SMP in 2017!

Anthony Gilbertson #19 racing at Phillip Island Circuit 2026

Tim Farrell #51

Pro-Am

Hayden Morris

Jeremy Mattea

5^th

Tim slipped a couple of places on lap 1 but like most of his team mates, he pushed forward to take 4th in race 1.

Tim did a great job in race 2 to race his way up to 2nd in Pro-Am, but was penalised 5 seconds for a jumped start, after the race.

In race 3 Tim had some unneeded excitement in the prickles costing him track position and leading to an eventual 8th place finish.

Tim Farrell #51 racing at Phillip Island Circuit 2026

Kent Leicester #14

Pro-Am

Hayden Morris

Zac Schwalm

P11

6^th

Kent did a great job to avoid a stalled car in front of him in race 1 and finished 19th outright from the 24 car grid.

In race 2 he had an average start, but had a good battle with former team mate Papantoniou, finishing less than a second behind JP.

In race 3 Kent literally switched gears and drove the best race of his short career. He finished with a career best result of 6th in Pro-Am and bettered his qualifying time by over 4 seconds.

Kent Leicester #14 racing at Phillip Island Circuit 2026

Summary

As expected, the first round of the new season was exciting, unpredictable and successful in one way or another for all 5 MR drivers.

Anthony Gilbertson #19 on the podium at Phillip Island Circuit 2026

Obviously Gilbo had the best weekend in his return to national level racing, with pole and a clean sweep of all three races. Kamal did a great job to take two podium finishes and 2nd for the round, which puts him second in the championship standings. Daniel was in a league of his own in race 3 and was heading towards 2nd for the round and 2nd in the championship, but he sits 10th. Cruel.

Tim had a weekend that got away, he is consistently getting closer to podium finishes and would have joined Gilbo on the Pro-Am podium, if not for a couple of small mistakes, but still a productive weekend for our resident 'Sprint car' racer. Like Daniel, Kent had a breakout race 3 and showed his competitors what he has up his sleeve, and the results he will be able to post by the middle of the season.

Now we have a test day at 'The Bend' in SA before we race there at the end of April.