Two big names in Australian rallying are surprise entrants in this year’s Quit Targa West. Dean Herridge, 39, and Bill Hayes, 47, will tackle the tarmac stages in and around Perth in the event which starts this Thursday with a ceremonial start in Forrest Place in the CBD.

Herridge and Hayes competed together from 2005 to 2007 when they were strong competitors in both the Australian and Chinese Rally Championships, competing for Subaru, as well as pairing up for several key tarmac rallies.

“It feels like we’re getting the band back together,” Herridge said.

He explained the decision to enter was quite last minute: “My pitch to Bill was ‘look, I don’t know how we’ll go, but let’s give it a crack’.”

Herridge, who is an active partner of Maximum Motorsport and a regular media commentator, started his rallying career in 1994 at the age of 17.

The following year he was the youngest driver to ever compete in a round of the World Rally Championship (Rally Australia).

He went on to have achieve numerous podium finishes in the Australian Rally Championship (ARC) and won the 2011 Australian Targa Championship.

Meanwhile, Hayes, who claimed Asia Pacific Rally Champion Co-driver title in 2012, retired from rallying in 2014.

The following year, he was lured back into the co-driver’s seat by Subaru’s Molly Taylor and the pair remain a strong force in the ARC, competing as part of the Subaru Do Motorsport team.

Herridge and Hayes will compete in a 2009 Subaru WRX STI and thanked their key sponsors for the event in Australian automotive supplies company Forch, Subaru Osborne Park and Elf Racing Fuels.

“If it wasn’t for them, it wouldn’t have come together in such a short timeframe” Herridge said. “We are all looking forward to a great event”

Targa West is a four-day rally with stages in Wanneroo, Malaga, Whiteman Park, Toodyay, Lower Chittering, Bullsbrook and in the city.

The spectator guide can be downloaded at www.targawest.com.au.

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