THE Launceston team of David Cooper and Jason Dann scored an impressive and long overdue victory in last weekend's Targa Wrest Point rally when they won the Classic outright competition in their four-door Torana A9X.
Cooper had previously won the Classic section of Rally Tasmania in 1998 in a Torana XU1 so it had been a long time between drinks for the father of four.
There were a number of times when Cooper seemed set for a podium spot only to have a mechanical issue cause the team to lose time or be forced out of the event.
Cooper described the win as personally satisfying as he has decided to retire from tarmac rallies after 17 years of competition to focus more attention on his family.
Last year Cooper and Dann won the Australian Targa championship in the Classic outright competition but they did so without scoring an outright round win.
``It was great to win the championship but to a certain extent it was a bit hollow as we achieved the result without a round win,'' said Cooper.
Last weekend the team had genuine pace in a car that did not miss a beat and when the opposition faltered they were there to pick up the win.
Nick Ellis had gearbox problems with his Porsche, Donn Todd had a fuel starvation issue in the Ford Perana and George Miedecke crashed his father's Ford Perana spectacularly into the water on the Esperance stage.
Targa V8 support
AFTER missing out last year the Targa Invitational class will be back on the program as a support for the Tasmanian Challenge for V8 Supercars and its inclusion is bound to create a lot of interest for spectators.
They will have four races over the weekend and it's anticipated that there could be up to 30 cars competing.
Additional support categories include three races for round two of the Formula Three championship, three races for round two of the Formula Ford championship and four races for the second round of the popular V8 Ute championship.
There will be no Superbikes at this meeting, scheduled for March 30-31 and April 1.
Meanwhile, Motorsport Tasmania manager Dick Caplice has confirmed that work is due to start shortly on the construction of an 80 metre by 80 metre hard standing area to accommodate the support categories.
When not in use at race meetings the area will be used as a skid pan for driver training and could also be used for entry level events such as motokhanas.
French connection
IT'S been revealed that Frenchman Alexandre Premat will be the replacement for Lee Holdsworth at GRM to join Michael Caruso in the Fujitsu backed team.
He will become the first Frenchman to join the championship on a full-time basis.
Premat has driven successfully in a number of different classes and came to prominence when he won the prestigious Macau GP in 2004.
In 2005-06 he won the now defunct A1 Grand Prix series and in 2008 won the Le Mans sports car series, while for the four years between 2007 and 2010 he drove for Audi in the ultra competitive German touring car championship.
Last year he drove in sports car races for the OAK team and had been working hard to secure a drive with BMW as it returns to the German touring car championship this year.
Garry Rogers, a great supporter of introducing new talent to the V8 ranks, has this time obviously decided to go with a more experienced driver.
Email a friend