Despite winning seven of the day’s eight competitive stages, South Australian Steve Glenney extended his overnight lead by just 11 seconds in a tight day of racing on the loop to St Helens and back to Launceston.
At the end of the second day of the five-day tarmac epic, Glenney’s Nissan GT-R has a 38 second break over local hope Jason White, who moved his Mitsubishi Lancer ahead of the Audi TT RS of Matt Close across the day’s 65 competitive kilometres.
Andrew Miedecke had opened up a two-minute buffer over the rest of the Classic field going into the day’s penultimate stage, the Sidling, but front suspension troubles left him stranded on the side of the road, handing the lead to the Triumph TR7 V8 of Craig Haysman.
The tightest tussle of the day was in Showroom 4WD, with Queenslander Clinton Arentz in a Mitsubishi Evo and Launceston’s Ben Newman in a Subaru WRX STI swapping fastest times. By day’s end Newman had moved ahead to take a 12 second lead into day three action.
While Glenney dominated the scoreboard in terms of stage wins, each was a narrow victory, with no more than two seconds separating him and White on any of the eight tests.
“The battle for the lead has been pretty fierce today,” Glenney said. “It’s going to be a race to the finish and the fight’s on for sure.”
“We’ve had lots of little niggling issues – nothing major – but we’ve been battling with those and still pushing hard and only edging small gaps.”
“We always want more, but I’m fairly pleased because we managed our tyres well.”
White is also happy with his progress despite not having his preferred Lamborghini available for this campaign.
“We never thought we would be winning stages this year in the Evo but we’re really rapt with the way we’ve been performing especially with the lack of preparation we’ve done,” White said.
Haysman is a popular leader in Classic Outright, but understands the vagaries of driving old cars better than most.
“ We’ve been in this situation before and lost the lead,” Haysman said. “There’s no guarantees from here – we’re still only a quarter of the way through.
“The car’s still feeling strong though and we’ll just have to keep on pushing. We started a bit slower today and eased into it after having a really big moment on the opening day.”
Jim Richards continues to shine in Showroom Sports in his Porsche Cayman S while Andrew Bollom has a seven-minute buffer in Showroom. Craig Dean has the Modern Muscle Car class under control in his Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 while pre-event favourites, Philip and David Frith, have moved into first place in Regularity.
In other classic competitions, Leigh Achterberg’s 1982 Porsche leads Late Handicap, Zac Caudo tops Early Handicap in a 1973 Datsun 2000, Drew Kent is first in Classic Florio and Graham Copeland, the Flag Car, holds Vintage Rallye honours.
Tasmanian Ben Manion has been superb in Early Modern, his 1990 Skyline GTS-t now nearly one minute clear of another local, Peter Nunn in a 1990 Porsche 994 S2.
The course heads to the West Coast and takes on classic stages Cethana and Hellyer Gorge on the way from Launceston to the overnight stop in Strahan.
TARGA TASMANIA 2014 DAY 2 OF 5 CLASS RESULTS (PROVISIONAL)
RDA Brakes Modern
1. Steve Glenney/Bernie Webb, 2009 Nissan GT-R Spec-V
2. Jason White/John White, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, +38s
3. Matt Close/Gary Mourant, 2010 Audi TT RS, +1min 04s
4. Tony Quinn/Kate Catford, 2011 Nissan GT-R Spec-V, +2min 16s
5. Jamie Vandenberg/Dennis Sims, 2009 Nissan GT-R, +2min 18s
6. Frank Purdey/Cameron Reeves, 2009 Nissan GT-R, +6min 40s
7. Brendon Winterbourn/Anthony Chudleigh, 2011 Mitsub. Lancer Evo X, +7min 05s
8. Max Williams/Bruce Bush, 2008 Mitsubishi Evo X, +7min 15s
9. Peter Mayer/John Caldicott, 2007 Porsche 911 GT3 RS, +10min 23s
RDA Brakes Early Modern
1. Ben Manion/Julie Winton-Monet, 1990 Nissan Skyline GTS-t
2. Peter Nunn/Keith Johnstone, 1990 Porsche 944 S2, +58s
3. Richard Perini/Chris Perini, 2000 Porsche 911 GT3, +3min 27s
4. Stephen Thatcher/Kelly Handley, Nissan ATTKD Select R SP, +3min 42s
5. Liam Howarth/Larry Howarth, 1995 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec, +4min 35s
RDA Brakes Modern Muscle
1. Craig Dean/Jenny Cole, 2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
2. Neill Ford /Colin Maher, 2011 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, +1 min 11s
3. Daniel Ford/Nathalie Ford, 2007 Chevrolet Corvette Z06, +1min 23s
4. Andrew Clingeleffer/David Rust, 2013 Daytona Coupe, +28min 10s
RDA Brakes Showroom
1. Andrew Bollom/Lee Challoner-Miles, 2011 Renault Megane RS 250
2. Andrew Robinson/Thomas Browell, 2013 Mini John Cooper Works GP, +6min 59s
3. Adam Spence/Erin Kelly, 2013 Renault Megane RS 265, +21min 08s
RDA Brakes 4WD Showroom
1. Ben Newman/Crichton Lewis, 2010 Subaru Impreza WRX STi
2. Clinton Arentz/Dale Moscatt, 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, +12s
3. Ralph Norton/Malcolm Norton, 2010 Subaru Impreza WRX STi, +2min 39s
4. Gregory Burrowes/Rhonda Burrowes, 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X +6min 18s
5. David Mathias/Kajeera Jenkins, 2010 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, +7min 02s
RDA Brakes Showroom Sports
1. Jim Richards/Barry Oliver, 2014 Porsche Cayman S
2. Michael Minshall/Kirrilee Gentleman, 2011 Audi TTRS, +4min 54s
3. Glyn Crimp/Paul van der Mey, 2012 Audi TTRS, +8min 29s
Shannons Classic Outright
1. Craig Haysman/Neil Branum, 1981 Triumph TR7 V8
2. Barry Faux/Therezia Mihajilovic, 1985 Mazda RX-7, +1min 23s
3. Peter Ullrich/Sari Ullrich, 1963 Jensen CV8, +2min 40s
4. Steve McClintock/Jann Skinner, 1985 Mazda RX-7, +2min 56s
5. Roger Paterson/Richard Geue, 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera RS, +3min 04s
Shannons Late Classic Handicap
1. Leigh Achterberg/Greg Fitzgerald, 1982 Porsche 944
2. Barry Faux/Therezia Mihajilovic, 1985 Mazda RX-7, +17s
=3 Robert Gambino/Mary Hughes, 1976 Ferrari 308 GTB, +1min 26s
=3 Bruce Power/Ray Baker, 1979 Mazda RX-7 GSL-SE, +1min 26s
5. Steve McClintock/Jann Skinner, 1985 Mazda RX-7, +2min 18s
Shannons Early Classics handicap
1. Zac Caudo/Mitch Noble, 1973 Datsun 1200
2. Peter Ullrich/Sari Ullrich, 1963 Jensen CV8, +28s
3. Paul Freestone/Christine Freestone, 1948 Holden 215, +3min 11s
4. Andrew White/Ashley Yelds, 1961 Volvo 122S, +4min 25s
5. Richard Woodward/Neil Gibson, 1969 Holden Monaro GTS, +5min 40sec
Shannons Classic Florio handicap
1. Drew Kent/Ella Kent, 1971 Ford Falcon GT
2. Glenn Rees/Richard Bullard, 1985 Porsche 944, +8min 49s
3. Wayne Gerlach/Dianne Gerlach, 1974 Porsche 911, +11min
4. Mac Russell/Marjorie Russell, 1976 Morgan Plus 8, +14min
Regularity
1. Philip Frith/David Frith, Porsche Boxter S, 29pts
2. Darryl Marshall/Andrew Marshall, Ford Falcon Ute Pursuit 250, 32pts
3. Jeff Beable/Nerida Beable, Nissan R35, 38pts
4. Allan Gluyas/Heather Gluyas, Toyota 86 GTS, 49pts
=5. Martin Duursma/Marc Sobbel, Lotus Exige X, 62pts
=5. Chris Hope/Warwick Hope, Porsche 944 Turbo, 62pts
Rookie Rallye
1. Sam Livesley/James Goodchap, 1972 Holden Torana,
2. Tim O’Connor/Gareth Sutcliffe, 2006 Subaru WRX STI Spec C, +18min 43s
Shannons Vintage Rallye
1. Graham Copeland/Josh Herbert, 1934 Ford Indy Car Special
2. Wayne Clark/Trevor Berriman, 1938 Dodge Speedster Special, +3min 3s
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