Vandenberg wins Targa Tasmania on Supashock

Dennis Sims and Jamie Vandenberg have taken victory in Australia’s most prestigious tarmac rally, the coveted Targa Tasmania on the weekend, aboard their Nissan GTR equipped with Supashock Racing Suspension.

Sims and Vandenberg had to fight hard for their victory; they were left behind the eight-ball with some driveshaft problems on the rally’s opening day, but bounced back in style to eventually claim victory by well over four minutes from Tony Quinn.

Navigator Sims said the Supashock package was instrumental in the team’s victory.

“After the problems on Day 1, we had to push hard to recover the lost time,” Sims said.

“Day 4 was particularly memorable because it was wet, but fortunately the Supashock dampers are really easy to adjust and we were able to tune in a great wet setup.

“Jamie said the car was very easy to control at the limit, even on the slippery roads, and we were able to make up about one and a half minutes on Day 4 and worked our way into the lead.

“Everyone knows how tough and competitive Targa Tasmania is, it’s a real test of man and machine so to come away with victory is a fantastic feeling.”

Supashock managing director Oscar Fiorinotto said the victory at Targa Tasmania is another triumph in what has been a very strong year for the local suspension company.

“Our dampers are in the car that’s leading the V8 Supercars Championship, we’re supplying all the teams in the V8 Utes, and now we’ve had a great tarmac rally win as well,” Fiorinotto said.

“Tarmac rallies produce even more setup challenges than circuit racing events, because you have to tune the suspension to suit a variety of different surfaces, on and off-camber corners, bumps, undulations and all the other imperfections you don’t find on racetracks.

“When we designed Supashock, one of the objectives was to make it easily adaptable for all these conditions and Jamie, Dennis and their team did a sensational job of driving, navigating and setting up the car in trying circumstances, so we congratulate them on their victory.”

Supashock will have a strong presence at this weekend’s Barbagallo V8 Supercars event, with shocks being used by the Ford Performance Racing and Erebus Motorsport teams, as well as all V8 Ute Racing outfits.

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