Targa Tasmania winner, Jamie Vandenberg, is a last minute entry into this weekend’s Targa High Country, which gets underway at Mt Buller on Friday morning.
Vandenberg, who will again be behind the wheel of the 2013 Nissan GT-R that he took to victory in Tasmania in May, has moved to favourite status in the Modern competition.
The car belongs to Dennis Sims, his co-driver at Targa Tasmania. However, Dennis’ son, Matt, was scheduled to drive it at High Country, but his work commitments lead to Vandenberg getting a late call to help.
His appearance on the start list means the modern section looks set for a battle royal, with the winner of January’s Targa Wrest Point, Mathew Rickards also in action at this event, driving his 2007 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9.
Vandenberg and Sims nursed their Nisan GT-R home to victory at Targa Tasmania, a chronically sick engine constantly threatening to end their run to the finish line and their dream of winning the event.
They made it, just, but the team has had to do major work on the car to prepare it for this event.
“The call only came yesterday to see if I could drive the car this weekend, and I jumped at it,” Vandenberg said.
“The guys have rebuilt the car with a new engine and a new gearbox, and it is now all ready to go.
“I’ve not been behind the wheel of the car since May, so I’ll get used to it again tomorrow and see how we go from there.”
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