Launceston’s Adam Garwood has won the Tarmac Rally title at this year’s Poatina Hillclimb, while Hobart’s Jamie Lonergan successfully defended his title in the Driver Only category.
Only two of the event’s six runs were completed following an incident involving a competition car. The navigator of the car involved, Andrew Kuc, was transported to hospital by ambulance after the car left the road during competition at approximately. The car’s driver, Cameron Kuc, was uninjured.
Garwood, driving a 2008 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, and his navigator Cameron Reeves, achieved the fastest accumulated time of the day over his two runs of the event’s 10.2km course snaking up the iconic Poatina Road from the small tourism hub of Poatina Village. Seventeen-year-old Garwood also won the event’s Tarmac Rally class for cars with an engine capacity between 3001 and 4500cc (Class D).
Finishing 9.5 seconds behind Garwood were Eddie Maguire and Mike Potter in a 2007 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX RS. Rounding out the top three were Peter Nunn and Keith Johnston in their 1985 Porsche 944 Turbo, a further 7.3 seconds behind Maguire.
“It was awesome,” Garwood said. “The were some big names here like Eddie Maguire and Jamie Vandenberg so it’s an honour to win.
“It was also the first time dad and I have raced together,” he added, of his father and Tasmanian racing stalwart, Greg Garwood, who finished fourth in the Tarmac Rally category in his 2001 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec.
Cameron and Andrew Kuc were leading their class (A: 0-1600cc), before they crashed out of the event. Eddie Maguire also won the event’s class for 4WD vehicles.
Nissan driver Jamie Lonergan stopped the clocks with the fastest time in the Driver Only category with an impressive time of 4mins 51 seconds – which also secured him a class win in the category for 4WD cars. Securing second place was Scott Deane in a 1996 Mitsubishi Evolution IV, 19.5 seconds behind and third quickest on the day was Stephen Noble in his 2005 Nissan 350Z.
“I am really proud to go back to back,” Lonergan said of his win. “It was a great day of competition and I really enjoyed the time with my fellow competitors.”
Other class winners in the Driver Only category were Warwick Hughes in his 1983 Alfa Romeo Sud TI (A: 0-1600cc), Phil House in a 1983 BMW Alpina C2 (C: 2001-3000cc), Mark Beckett in his 1992 Nissan Skyline GTS-t (D: 3001-4500cc), and Steve Noble in a 2005 Nissan 350Z (E: 4501cc and over).
“There was some solid competition today from the tarmac rally entrants,” said the event’s Clerk of the Course and Auto Corsa Group, Stuart Benson. “Close competition between drivers like Jamie Vandenberg, Eddie Maguire – these are drivers with great credibility and well-prepared cars, upstaged by young gun Adam Garwood who has had great success on the track this year.”
“And impressively, last year’s Driver Only winner – Jamie Lonergan – continued his dominance in the event’s Driver-only competition.
“Auto Corsa Group is humbled by the support received from the Tasmanian motorsport fraternity for the Poatina Hillclimb and we look forward to it becoming a permanent fixture on the Tasmanian motorsport calendar.”
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