The final round of the 2025 North Island Endurance Series takes place this weekend on Saturday 21 June 2025 at the Hampton Downs Motorsport Park.
Last weekend the second round delivered a weekend of high drama, heartbreak, and heroic comebacks at Hampton Downs.
In the One-Hour race, Matt Whittaker (Porsche GT3 Cup (992) inherited the win after a post-race penalty for first across the line Nick Chester (Holden Commodore VZ V8SC). What initially looked like a dominant drive to victory for Chester, ended in controversy and disqualification, handing Whittaker his first win of the season.
Chester, who charged from fifth to first and reclaimed the lead just before the pit window opened, was excluded after completing his compulsory stop under Safety Car conditions – a breach of race regulations. That late pit stop had initially given him a 50-second lead, but it ultimately cost him the win.
Whittaker, who had fought hard up front and made multiple lead exchanges with Chester, was promoted to first in his Porsche GT3. Steve Brooks and Bill Riding (Porsche GT3 Cup 992) came home second, while Paul Kelly (Porsche GT3 Cup 992) rounded out the podium despite serving a 10-second time penalty earlier in the race.
Class honours went to Kent Quinn (Porsche 982 Cayman GT4) (Class 3), Conley Webley (BMW Z4) (Class 4), and Nathan Grammer (Toyota 86) (Class 5).
Heading into the finale Steve Brooks and Bill Riding (185) have a seven-point lead over Francois Beziac (168) (Porsche GT3 Cup (991) with Regan Scoullar (161) (Porsche GT3 Cup) in third.
The Three-Hour Enduro produced a nail-biting finale as Jonny Reid and Sam Fillmore (Audi R8 LMS Evo II GT3) staged a stunning comeback to win by less than a second after being a lap down early in the race.
An off-track excursion and Safety Car shuffled Fillmore out of contention early, but bold strategy and sheer pace saw the #27 Audi R8 claw its way back to the front. A perfectly timed pit stop under yellow and a final-hour charge from Reid set up a dramatic showdown with young gun Ryan Wood in the #888 Audi R8 GT3.
In a breathtaking finish, Reid held off relentless pressure from Wood, with the pair matching lap times to the thousandth.
Kane Lawson, Ronan Murphy, and Hayden Knighton (Lamborghini Huracan GT3) completed the podium in third, while Class wins went to Simon Gilbertson and John McIntyre (Porsche GT3 Cup 991 MR) (Class 2) and Sam Cotterill and Max Vidau (Porsche GT3 Cup 992) (Class 1).
Heading into the finale, Fillmore and Reid (190) have a 12-point lead over Steve Brooks (178) with Glenn Brazier and Andrew Waite (172) third ahead of Knighton/Lawson/Murphy (165).
The One Hour race gets underway this Saturday 21 June 2025 at 11:40 with the Three-Hour following at 1:45pm.
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