Former Porsche Carrera Cup North America race winner and series runner-up Tom Sargent has come a long way in his sports car career with Porsche.
When we say the 22-year-old Sargent has come a long way – more than 9,500 miles from his hometown in Australia to race recently at the Daytona 24 Hour with Wright Motorsports.
Just two years ago, Sargent – who grew up in the small town of Young, New South Wales, with a population of less than six thousand – moved to the United States to add to his already stacked racing résumé.
After entering the karting ranks at age seven, Sargent progressed into the Australian Formula Ford championship in 2017. The coronavirus pandemic halted the 2020 season, but Sargent returned with a vengeance to capture the National Championship in 2021.
He catapulted into GT racing and into the spotlight after a stunning performance in the spring of 2022 – winning the Bathurst Six Hour in a hastily summoned-together team.
Little did Sargent know he would soon add to that highlight reel. The same year, he joined the elite Porsche family and entered the 2022 Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia series, walking away with seven wins and the championship.
That immediate success led to a valiant decision: moving to the United States in 2023 to compete in an even higher-level championship, Porsche Carrera Cup North America.
The Australian quickly caught the eye of the field in the season-opening rounds at Sebring International Raceway, scoring a runner-up finish in both contests. The inaugural win was elusive, however, finally coming in the penultimate weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. By the season’s end, Sargent finished second in the Pro class championship to conclude his debut season of North American competition.
It’s no surprise that Sargent continued to challenge himself in 2024, participating, winning and scoring podiums in Fanatec GT World Challenge America alongside Kyle Washington at GMG Racing.
But the biggest challenge has now begun.
For this season, Sargent was named the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup driver for Wright Motorsports, paired with full-time drivers Elliott Skeer and Adam Adelson. Sargent met the pair in GT World Challenge America last season – seeing firsthand their championship-winning effort.
Joining Wright Motorsports is Sargent’s introduction to the top-tier racing series in North America – joining a host of other former Carrera Cup and Porsche one-make racing stars.
The 2025 Daytona field was filled with drivers who kick started their careers in Porsche one-make racing including overall race winner Nick Tandy. In fact, the entire Wright Motorsport line-up all used Porsche one-make racing as part of their career development.
“Making my IMSA debut, and with such a well-established and successful team, is my dream start to the championship,” Sargent said upon his announcement. “I can’t wait to be able to do my job, work beside these incredible drivers, and represent the team and my country to the best of my ability.”
And that he did.
With Skeer and Adelson leading the charge and Sargent learning alongside Turkish Porsche factory driver, Ayhancan Guven, the quartet powered to a stunning second-place finish at the prestigious 24 Hours of Daytona at the end of January. It came after Skeer nabbed the GTD class pole position to start the No. 120 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) first, and the drivers combined to lead 141 laps of the race.
Wright Motorsports’ chance to win was only cast aside when a late-race yellow flag impacted the team’s strategy.
Nevertheless, it was an impressive IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debut for the youngster from New South Wales, who had just contested his first-ever twice-around-the-clock racing marathon.
“My first ever 24-hour was hectic to say the least,” said Sargent after the race. “Bittersweet is the way I’ll put it. We were so fast throughout the whole race. We led so many laps of it. Adam, Elliott, and Ayhancan drove amazingly. We were really on top of it and the team was making changes throughout the event to keep the car in the window.
“Unfortunately, it just didn’t fall our way. An unfortunate Safety Car meant we had to do an emergency pit stop and then serve a drive-through, which didn’t give us enough time to recover. Ayhancan put in an amazing last stint to get us P2.
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t exactly what we wanted. Nonetheless, my first 24 Hours of Daytona was amazing, and I’ve got the rest of the endurance season with Wright Motorsports and can’t wait.”
Sargent’s next outing with Wright Motorsports is set for next month at the historic 12 Hours of Sebring on March 12 – 15.
This year’s Porsche Carrera Cup North America will kick off at the same event at Sebring. Teams will actually gather in Sebring at the start of March for the annual pre-season test on Monday and Tuesday, March 3 and 4.