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Reigning champion, Jason White, at the wheel
of his potent rally-specification
Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera has set
the pace around the packed streets of George
Town during the Temco Prologue at Targa
Tasmania today. |
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Kevin Weeks and
Dale Moscatt got off to a solid start in the
#991 Supaloc Racing Lamborghini Gallardo
Superleggera (2008) posting the equal
seventh fastest time on the 4.81 km Prologue
stage this afternoon in 3 minutes 20 seconds
which left him 11 seconds ahead of test
winner John White in the other Raging Bull
entry. |
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Reigning champion,
Jason White, has set the pace around the packed streets
of George Town during the Temco Prologue at Targa
Tasmania today.
Driving his Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera, White was
an impressive five seconds quicker than the Nissan GT-R
of Tony Quinn, with fellow Queenslander Tim Hendy a
further second back in a 2005 Daytona Coupe.
In the Classic Outright competition, it was the Datsun
240Z of Jon Siddins who upstaged perennial winner Rex
Broadbent (Porsche 911), with German superstar, two-time
World Rally Champion Walter Rohrl, settling into the
event with the sixth fastest time for cars made
pre-1986.
The factory cars battled it out in the Showroom class,
with Mazda’s Brendan Reeves taking a clear victory ahead
of motoring journalist, Mike Sinclair, in his Skoda
Octavia RS.
In perfect weather conditions, the 20th anniversary
edition of Targa Tasmania went off without a hitch, with
the flame-throwing Lamborghini of Jason White once again
proving that he’ll be the man to catch. He was clearly
faster than his rivals, although White knows that the
Temco Prologue stage means little in a six-day tarmac
rally. “The car felt really good,” White said. “It’s
always good to blow off a bit of steam around here, but
I think we were four seconds slower than last year. We
had a bit of a misdemeanour in the first couple of
corners. The roads have been resealed and there’s loose
gravel on them. We had a close look at the very first
gutter we came across, which didn’t set a very good
scene for the rest of it, and we didn’t know if there
were going to be any more surprises. But it all went
quite well, we had some fun, and we’re all geared up for
the rest of the event.”
Another crowd favourite, touring car ace Dick Johnson,
took things steadily in his 2009 Chevrolet Corvette Z06,
with his eyes firmly on reaching the finish of the
event. “Today is all about familiarising everyone with
what’s coming up, but you don’t win it on the first day,
not that our intentions are to win it,” Johnson said.
“We just want to get to the end and make sure we go
well. The car feels fine, but it’s very difficult to
find out what it can do on a street stage, but I’m happy
with it, and looking forward to the rest of the event.”
While Jon Siddins was the man to catch today in the
Temco Prologue, it is expected the 1980 and 1982 World
Rally Champion, Walter Rohrl, will battle it out with
four-time Classic Outright winner, Rex Broadbent. “I’m
feeling the pressure,” Broadbent said. “There’s a lot of
pressure to do well, and there’s at least five or six
people who could beat us. Today is about getting
the cob webs out. It was the first time I’ve hit the rev
limiter in a car for six to eight months, but it was
good, and the car was great.”
Rohrl, on the other hand, was more intent on getting
used to a car he hasn’t driven in anger since 1981. “It
was a nice experience,” he admitted. “It’s the first
time I’ve been back on a special stage in this car and
it just seems like 30 years ago. I feel like I’ve jumped
back in time 30 years, like a young guy. The car is the
same, it’s soft, it’s rolling quite a lot and not so
much power, but I think that’s what it was like 30 years
ago. For me the biggest thing I don’t know is tyres,
because I have no experience of racing where I have to
save my tyres. It will be a challenge for me to see how
fast I can go and save my tyres.”
The first day of Targa Tasmania gets underway from the
Launceston Silverdome tomorrow morning, with competitors
to tackle eight Targa stages to the north and west of
Launceston.
RESULTS
Targa Tasmania puretasmania Modern
1. Jason White / John White, 2010 Lamborghini Gallardo
Superleggera: 3m.09:00
2. Tony Quinn / Naomi Tillett, 2009 Nissan GT-R: +5.00
3. Tim Hendy / Anthony Chudleigh, 2005 Daytona Coupe:
+5.85
Targa Tasmania Shannons Outright Classic
1. Jon Siddins / Darren Ferguson, 1970 Datsun 240Z:
3m.23:80
2. Rex Broadbent / Chris Randell, 1974 Porsche 911
Carrera RS: +0.20
3. Nicholas Ellis / Travis Lacey, 1977 Porsche 911
Carrera 3: +0.32
Targa Tasmania puretasmania Early Modern
1. Blaise Paris / Raechel Krause, 1999 Mitsubishi Lancer
Evolution VI TME: 3m.14:38
2. Peter O'Keefe / Julie Winton-Monet, 2001 Nissan
Skyline GT-R V-Spec II: +6.27
3. Ric Shaw / James Parish, 2000 Mazda RX-7: + 6.3
Targa Tasmania puretasmania Showroom
1. Brendan Reeves and Rhianon Smythe, 2010 Mazda 3 MPS:
3m31:50s
2. Michael Sinclair and Bill Hayes, 2009 Skoda Octavia
RS: + 7.94s
3. Geoff Kennedy and Geoff Neale, 2007 BMW 130i: +
15.41s
Targa Tasmania TMR Performance 4WD Showroom
1. Tony Warren and Greg Boyle, 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer
Evo IX: 3m23:52s
2. Matthew Heskin and Aleksandar Velkovski, 2008
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X RS: +1.02s
3. Scott Millar and Christopher Dean, 2008 Mitsubishi
Lancer Evolution X: +7.53s
Targa Tasmania Shannons Early Classic Handicap
1. Paul and Christine Freestone, 1948 Holden 48/215:
3m30:81s
2. Scott and Wayne Kent, 1965 Ford Mustang: +7.93s
3. Paul and Mike Batten, 1961 Volvo PV544: +17.91s
Targa Tasmania Shannons Late Classic Handicap
1. Jon Siddins and Darren Ferguson, 1970 Datsun 240Z:
3m23.80s
2. Nic Ellis and Travis Lacey, 1977 Porsche 911 Carrera:
+ 0.32s
3. David Gainer and Gus Conduit, 1971 Datsun 240Z:
+3.24s
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