Richards and Oliver, competing in a Porsche GT2, will be hoping their experience together in more than 50 tarmac rallies will be enough to see them win the QUIT Targa West Competition Modern trophy for the second time but will face stiff competition from West Australia’s own Steve Jones.
“Both Barry and I are really looking forward to it, the last event we did was Targa Tasmania so it’s been a while between rallies for us, Richards said.
“Each time we’ve come over to Perth we’ve had great time and really enjoyed ourselves so we’re looking forward to competing again,” he continued.
Jones, who at 26 years old is one of the youngest drivers in the event, will be looking to make it three wins in a row when he lines up in his Nissan GTR35.
While he will go into the event confident he can win the title for the third time, becoming only the first driver to do so, there will be one big difference in 2010, a new navigator, Ben Searcy.
“Richards and Jones have had some great battles in the past and I can’t wait to see how the results will fall in 2010,” QUIT Targa West Event Director Bob Schrader said.
“QUIT Targa West 2010 has a fantastic line up of cars for the motorsport enthusiast or casual spectator who will be treated to a visual feast of cars in action and on display across the weekend,” he continued.
The Competition Classic class once again sees a fantastic line up of pre-1982 Vehicles including a DeTomaso Pantera, a Ford Capri Perana Replica, an Alfa Romeo 2000 GT Veloce and a host of Australian built Holdens and Fords.
David and Vicki Moir (Datsun 240Z) have finished the Competition Classic class in second for the past three years and will be looking to take that next step and finish on top of the podium in 2010.
Shane Attwell and Michael Joss (Porsche 911 RS) will be aiming better their fifth outright in 2009 and Mark and Mitchell O’Kane, competing in a crowd favourite Holden Torana A9X, will also be in the battle for a podium place.
Another one of the many family duos contesting the event is Mark and Andrew Conacher (Nissan GTR35). The pair are back to defend their 2009 Modern Challenge title with Andrew once again making the trip from Texus, USA to compete.
Robert Darrington and David Abetz who won the Challenge Modern class in 2007, finished second to the Conachers in 2009 and have switched from an Audi S4 to a Nissan GTR35 for the 2010 event in an effort to reclaim the title.
In the Challenge Classic Andrew Cutten, who won the event as co-driver to Rohan Green in 2009, will contest the class as a driver in 2010. Cutten will team up with Matthew Teape in the same Porsche 911 driven by Green last year.
Martin and Sharon Eyre (Triumph TR8) will be looking to better their third outright in 2009 and the father and son combination of Paul and Mitchell Thompson (Porsche 911 RS) will be looking for their first podium finish.
A full rundown of all the QUIT Targa West stages and activities will be published in the Official Spectator Guide in Autotrader magazine which will be available on the 20th August from service stations and newsagents.
QUIT Targa West will be held from the 26th - 29th August 2010 in the Shires of Kalamunda, Toodyay as well as the City of Swan and City of Perth.
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