The return of Danny Stutterd brings TekworkX Motorsport’s Sprint Challenge squad to four cars for the final round of the season at Mount Panorama.

Aron Shields and Hamish Fitzsimmons enter the round in contention for end of season silverware, sitting second and fourth respectively in the Pro class standings, with Fitzsimmons also second in the Endurance Cup fight. Nash Morris will be looking to resume normal order after battling illness at The Bend, following his scintillating two rounds prior.

Fitzsimmons has enjoyed a strong second half of the year, climbing to fourth in the Championship, and just 51 points shy of third. Impressively, the rookie is second in the Endurance Cup fight, having finished no lower than fifth across the five races so far. Fitzsimmons can claim the title if he outscores the current series leader by 19 points in the final Endurance Cup race, with 60 up for grabs. The Endurance Cup finale takes place at 4:40pm on Friday.

“I don’t feel too bad about the prospect of Bathurst, I’m looking forward to learning another new track,” said Fitzsimmons.

“The aim is to go and win a race, try to get it done in the Endurance Cup race and hopefully take that championship. We’re sitting pretty well in the overall Pro class as well, if we can grab a top three for that it’ll be awesome.

“It’s a busy Friday, but it’s nothing we haven’t done before. It’s quite a big practice session, so we should be able to have most of it worked out. Then going in to qualifying we’ll take as much as we can from practice and ensure we maximise there.

“Just keen to get back in the seat and get it going,” concluded Fitzsimmons.

Shields is second in the Pro Class standings, having taken three race wins across three different tracks so far in the 2023 season – the only Pro driver to have achieved wins at three tracks this year. Shields is 171 points in arrears of the series lead, with 180 points up for grabs. The #116 holds a 32 point buffer back to third place. Shields also sits third in the Endurance Cup standings, with one race left in that Championship.

“Last year was eye opening,” said Shields.

“Being there for the first time in such a high performance car was interesting, it’s great to have that experience now. I didn’t do to bad last year either, so I feel good about this round. My target is to go out and fight for the win in all three races.

“I expect it’ll be quite chaotic, especially with the two day format, but we will be well prepared for it. Bathurst can bite you hard, it’s a very challenging circuit, high speed, lots of blind corners and of course the elevation change.

“We’ll build up to it, but excited to get going,” concluded Shields.

Morris won five of his first six races in Sprint Challenge, but battled illness and missed a large portion of the round at The Bend last time out. Morris will carry a wealth of Bathurst knowledge into the final round, having competed at the Mount Panorama circuit in Super2, Super3, Trans Am and the Bathurst 6 Hour.

Stutterd returns to Sprint Challenge for the first time this year, having spent 2023 in the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Championship. Stutterd has a successful past in Sprint Challenge, having won the Pro-Am title in 2018. In 2022, Stutterd grabbed two podiums for TekworkX in the series’ visit to Mount Panorama.

The final round takes place across just two days as part of the Bathurst International, from November 10-11.