Motorsport: Kiwi Jaxon Evans wins Porsche scholarship

Kiwi-born Jaxon Evans. Photo / Supplied

New Zealand Porsche racer Jaxon Evans keeps on his march towards winning the 2018 Carrera Cup Australia championship.

Evans was in action over the weekend in a support category for The Great Race and picked up a first, a second and a third over his three races. He now has a handy 114-point lead over his nearest rival heading into the final round on the Gold Coast later this month.

Evans has one hand on the series trophy, but more importantly he has clinched the Porsche Motorsport Junior Programme Shootout spot for Australia. He was announced as one of the four drivers to be part of the Porsche Michelin Junior Programme at the beginning of the year.

He used his experience, having raced in the series in 2017, to come out well on top with 252 points and clinch the shoot out spot to be held on at a track somewhere in France later this year.

Evans will be following in the footsteps of his good Australian friend Matt Campbell who won in 2016. More interestingly though, he'll be following the path set by fellow Kiwi Earl Bamber who won a place in the shootout back in 2013.

As a result, he had a funded drive in the Porsche Supercup in 2014, which he duly won, and the rest is history as they say for the two-time Le Mans 24 winner and World Endurance Champion.

"The first time they told me I was going to represent Australia I asked them to rephrase it as Carrera Cup Australia and I'll still be representing New Zealand on behalf of Carrera Cup Australia," said Evans after winning race two on Saturday.

"It's awesome to wrap up that Michelin Junior Championship so early and be rewarded with the Porsche Shootout Scholarship.

"I'll be putting my best foot forward to represent the championship and New Zealand the best I can.

"Porsche reward you quite well through their pyramid system [The base of the pyramid starts with Porsche's customers and motorsport driving events like the Porsche Sport Driving School and other Clubsport events (PCA driver's education, POC races, etc.).

Next up are the one-make-series the likes of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, the international Carrera Cups and Porsche GT3 Cup Challenges.

After success there you move up to the factory 911 RSR and the 911 GT3 R used in the FIA World Endurance Championship (24 Hours of Le Mans, etc.) and the IMSA Sport Car Championship (24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, etc.). Here drivers fight on behalf of both customer teams and factory teams.

Lastly, at the top of the pyramid is the pinnacle of Porsche racing, or it use to be, the 919 Hybrid, the LMP1 class at the top of FIA WEC racing — Flatsix.com]

"I'm hoping I can emulate others who been through the system and get to race in Europe following in the footsteps of someone like Earl. He and Matt showed you can do and I hope to emulate both of them."