With two dominant displays of driving, two South Australians have established commanding leads that look set to take them to victory at Rally Tasmania in Burnie on Sunday.
Leading the way in the Modern section with one day to go is still Steve Glenney in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9. He goes into the final day more than one minute13 second lead over veteran Jim Richards driving a Porsche GT3 RS. Tony Longhurst, in his Subaru Impreza WRX STI prepared by the Launceston-based Les Walkden Rallying team, is third, one minute 55 seconds from the lead.
The overnight leader in Classics, Cameron Wearing, remains in control of the Heritage Rally title in his 1971 Ford Capri Parana, 39 seconds clear of Roger Paterson’s 1974 Porsche 911 RS. David McDonough, driving a 1970 Ford Capri Perana, moved into third late in the day, setting the scene for a South Australian trifecta.
Daniel Callinan was third until he hit a curb on the Burnie street stage, lost a wheel, and his place on the leader board.
Paterson pushed hard all day, and took 20 seconds from Wearing on the stage out of Savage River. But Wearing steadied during the afternoon stages and again increased his buffer.
“Roger Paterson did a superb job coming out of Savage,” Wearing said. “I drove as hard as I could but he still took time out of me.”
“You just can’t go past those Savage and Hellyer stages, they’re the best. The people of north west Tasmania are so lucky to have such fantastic rallying roads right on their doorstep.”
“The Super Special Stage in Burnie was absolutely fantastic as well. We’ve had so much fun and it’s great to see the crowds of people out enjoying the event, they love it.”
“We’ve done all the hard work to try and get a buffer, so we’re going to take tomorrow with the same pace and not do anything stupid.”
Going into the two runs across the Burnie stage, Glenney had set the fastest time in 11 of the 12 stages contested. He seems untouchable with just seven stages to go on Sunday, but the Mitsubishi driver is aware he must still negotiate the final 61 competitive kilometres to the finish line.
Richards was a comfortable second all day, with the leader out of reach and those battling for third well back.
The fight for the final place on the podium was intense throughout the day. At various times, Tony Sullens, Jamie Vandenberg and Longhust all held the position.
Early on, Burnie driver Vandenberg was extremely quick and looked set to put pressure on Richards. But he slipped back during the afternoon and is in sixth place.
Longhurst now seems the man to beat for third, but his team mate, Klark Quinn, has moved from tenth to fifth, showing real pace on his tarmac rally debut, going close to matching Glenney on the famous Savage River stages. He looks the one to watch should others falter.
Rally Tasmania concludes on Sunday afternoon in Burnie at 2pm.
LEG TWO – RALLY TASMANIA – TOP 10 CLASSICS, END OF STAGE 12
(PROVISIONAL)
1 C Wearing/R Cochrane, 1971 Ford Capri-Perana
2 R Paterson,/R Geue, 1974 Porsche 911 RS, +39secs
3 D Callinan/G Weston, 1979 Holden Commodore, +1 min 3 secs
4 D McDonough/L Wilson, 1970 Ford Capri Parana, + 1:39
5 K Callinan/MA Callinan, 1972 De Tomaso Pantera, + 2:14
6 H de Corti/M de Corti, 1974 Porsche 911 RS, +3:17
7 D Cooper/B Sherriff, 1977 Holden Torana A9X, +3:41
8 G Crimp/P van der Mey, 1981 Porsche 924 GTS, 4:47
9 G Leesen/P Dell, 1969 Ford Falcon XWGTHO, +4:50
10 R Lowe/P Lowe, 1971 Datsun 240Z, +6:21
LEG TWO – RALLY TASMANIA – TOP 10 MODERN AFTER STAGE 12,
(PROVISIONAL)
1 S Glenney/B Webb, 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8 MR RS
2 J Richards/B Oliver, 2007 Porsche GT3 RS, +1 min 13 secs
3 T Longhurst/J Taylor, 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, +1:55
4 T Sullens/J Mills, 1999 Subaru Impreza WRX RA, +2:36
5 K Quinn/N Deniese, 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, +2:38
6 J Vandenberg/S Vandenberg, 2006 Mitsubishi lancer Evo9, +2:54
7 E Evans/C Murphy, 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, +3:03
8 T Quinn/K Wenn, 2001 Nissan Skyline, + 4:48
9 S Gillett/K Norton, 2004 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, +5:12
10 S Barter/I Wheeler, 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, +6:17
SUBSCRIBE BELOW TO READ THE FULL STORY
