The opening day of the 20th anniversary edition of the Targa Tasmania has seen an action-packed first day around Launceston. Driving a 2009 Nissan GT-R, Quinn holds a slender lead over pre-event favourite, White, with the Mazda of Steve Glenney in third place. The second Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera on the Targa this year, entered by Supaloc Racing for Kevin Weeks and Dale Moscatt, has been running comfortably inside the top-ten throughout the opening day.

Tasmanian David Cooper was a surprise first day leader in the Classic Outright competition, opening up an impressive 18-second advantage over ex-Tasmanian and former touring car star Andrew Miedecke, while Mazda’s Brendan Reeves has taken a stranglehold on the Showroom class in his Mazda3 MPS.

Conditions were perfect on the first day of the event, but that didn’t stop many competitors pushing a little too hard and damaging their expensive machines. In particular, the Sheffield stage took its tool mid-way through the day with four cars all having an off within 100 metres of each other.

As expected, the battle for the lead for the Modern competition was intense, with White, Quinn and Glenney fighting it out. “We’ve had a good first day, about as good as it gets,” Quinn said. “You can’t really ask for better. The car’s going well, but I think everybody is having trouble with bumps and stuff on the roads, but we’ve been getting through it okay.”

White was happy with his first day, and admitted to pushing hard right from the outset. “It’s been a pretty exciting first day,” White said. “We had a couple of hairy scary moments down the other side of Sheffield. We might have dropped a little bit of time through there, but the rest of it has been pretty good. There’s been some good, enjoyable stages, and I’m pretty happy with the way it’s going so far. We’re pushing as hard as we can from the outset, so there’s no easing in to it - this is full speed.”

Debuting a new Porsche 911 GT2 RS, Richards eased his way into the day finishing fifth, but with a deficit of nearly 50 seconds to Quinn, he can ill afford to drop much further back if he intends to claim a ninth Targa crown.

In the Classics Cooper drove his 1977 Holden Torana A9X magnificently over the first eight stages, using his local knowledge to good effect, while some of the favourites were left behind. Andrew Miedecke is sitting pretty in second in his Ford Capri Perana, ahead of a surprise third placed Len Cattlin, from Queensland. The Porsche 911s of Victorians Peter Eames and Nic Ellis, and two-time World Rally Champion, Walter Rohrl, are equal fourth. Rohrl is still one of the favourites to win the category, but his Porsche team were quick to point out that the German used the first day to settle into the event, with plenty of speed in reserve. The winner of the past four Classic titles, Victorian Rex Broadbent, is already over a minute from the lead in seventh place. With such a hot pace being set, Broadbent will need to put in a herculean effort to win another title.

The Mazda vs Skoda battle in the Showroom competition has gone the way of the Japanese manufacturer on the first day, as Brendan Reeves moved 46 seconds clear of Mike Sinclair’s Skoda. “Our first day has been really good. We’ve got new brakes on for this rally and we’ve found some improvement there, and we’ve improved reliability,” Reeves commented. The ACT pairing of Barry Faux and Therezia Mihajlovic lead the Late Classic handicap competition in their 1979 Mazda RX7, while Tasmanian Targa veterans Scott and Wayne Kent lead the way in the Early Classic section in a 1965 Ford Mustang.

Targa debutante, Blaise Paris, was surprised to be leading the Early Modern competition after the first day, admitting that he’s still learning the stages. “We’re just tying to run our own race,” Paris said. “I’m surprised with the sort of times we’ve been putting in.  In the 4WD Showroom category, Hobart’s Tony Warren again proved to be the man to beat, with a 32 second lead after the first day. He leads a horde of a Mitsubishi Lancers, with Scott Millar and Matthew Heskin in hot pursuit. The clash of the Vintage cars is led by the 1938 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300B Mille Miglia Spyder of John and Andrew Lawson, over two minutes ahead of Wayne Clark and Roger Richardson in a 1938 Dodge Speedster Special.