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Adam Davis22 Apr 2013
NEWS

TARGA: White-wash at 2013 Targa Tasmania

Popular Tasmanians claim their fourth Targa title with their Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo Stradale

After six days of intense Targa competition, Jason and John White have taken outright victory in their exotic V10-powered Lamborghini, taking the laurels for the second year in succession.

In the final instalment of this year’s event they were pushed every inch of the way by the rapid Nissan R35 GT-R of Steve Glenney and Bernie Webb.

The 2008 winners actually led the Whites at the end of Leg Two and were in the hunt right until the end, finishing only one minute and five seconds behind after 38 stages and six days of action.

The similar GT-R of Sims/Sims finished third, 8:40 off the Whites, while eight-times Targa Tasmania winner Jim Richards finished fourth in his Porsche 911 GT2 RS with co-driver Barry Oliver.

At the presentation ceremony, held at the Wrest Point Casino in Hobart, Jason White was ecstatic with the result, and relished the challenge offered by Glenney.

“That’s four wins for us now and we’re very, very happy with that,” he said.

“It’s been a long, arduous week for us and we’ve had plenty of hurdles to jump over, some of them pretty big…but we’ve made it, which is very sweet.

“Today was probably our smoothest day with the gap we had, but there’s no guarantees so we just went flat out and broke every record on every stage we did this morning…we only backed off ever so slightly in the final two stages.

“It’s been the most intense five days we’ve ever spent getting around Targa, and it’s very fulfilling.”

On finishing in the runner-up spot, Glenney said: “It’s a pleasing result even though I hate coming second. We’re all here to win, but I’m very pleased as it’s a car which had had very little modification or race-prep, so to get it to the finish, let alone come second, is a great result for everyone involved.”

In Classic Outright, the action was manic all weekend, with many front-line contenders striking trouble -- both mechanical and scenic.

Overnight leaders Haysman/Branum retired on the epic 58.55km test of Mount Arrowsmith, their 1981 Triumph TR7 V8 suffering a gearbox failure. This gave the 1971 Ford Capri Perana of Donn Todd and Dean Tighe class victory.

In the classic handicap sub-categories, the Achterberg/Fitzgerald 1982 Porsche 944 took Late Classic and the Ulrich/Ulrich 1963 Jensen CV8 won Early Classic. The Blake/Blake 1964 Fiat Abarth OT 1600 was victorious in the ‘Classic Florio’ Handicap.

In Early Modern, the tight battle which raged between the Pritchard/Mourant Porsche 996 GT3 and the Manion/Roach Nissan Skyline GTS-t was concluded with the Skyline taking the honours. Trailing overnight by 32 seconds, they ended up turning the deficit into a 28-second advantage by the end of the final stage, Grasstree Hill.

Their time across Mount Arrowsmith was decisive, being some 30 seconds faster than their Porsche-mounted rivals. Thatcher/Handley in the Nissan R32 ATTKD fought hard to retain the final spot on the podium, finishing 7:03 behind.

The Showroom category saw a popular win for the Renault Sport Megane RS 265 of Grant Denyer and Dale Moscatt. They led a Megane-dominated category, finishing 18:09 ahead of Noor/Challoner-Miles in an earlier RS 250.

Another RS 250, that of Strange/Cudmore, was third. Our own Mike Sinclair and co-driver Bill Hayes showed solid speed on Leg Five, making up a position during the day to finish fifth in class.

4WD Showroom was resolved with the 2007 model Subaru Impreza WRX STi of Kennard/Wheeler taking the honours, 10:07 ahead of the Mitsubishi Evolution X of Burrrowes/Burrowes. In third place was Newman/Lewis, a great result after dropping to fifth in Leg Four. Their final deficit to Kennard was 11:26 -- meaning they caught up around eight and a half minutes throughout the day.

The mighty Shelby Mustang GT500 of Dean/Quigley continued to close on the Chevrolet Corvette Z06s ahead of him in Showroom Sports, but simply could not make up the deficit incurred when they had an off in Leg One.

Ford/Maher deservedly won the class, 3:12 ahead of the similar Z06 of Ford/Ford. Dean/Quigley finished up a further 5:09 seconds adrift.

Finally, in Vintage Rallye the 1938 Dodge again restarted, however, it blew a head gasket before Mount Arrowsmith and failed to finish.

The ceremonial finish saw a thronging crowd watch the podium presentations that ended with several champagne-saturated service crews -- a sign of thanks from the driver/co-driver crews for the un-ending efforts of their supporters.

The camaraderie between competitors at Wrest Point made for a wonderful atmosphere; it’s something intangible, about an experience shared on the greatest driving roads in Australia…and perhaps the world.

Congratulations to all crews who made it to the finish…you earned it.

Latest rally news from Targa Tasmania 2013 at motoring.com.au

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Written byAdam Davis
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