RISING Burnie driver Eddie Maguire has upstaged many of Targa Tasmania's big names on the opening day of racing in the state's North yesterday.
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Driving his 2007 Mitsubishi Lancer, the 28-year-old was two seconds faster in the modern category by day's end, grabbing his advantage on the final 4.81-kilometre George Town street stage.
Maguire though was cautiously optimistic about his chances of retaining his advantage over the next five days.
"Just because we won today doesn't mean we're going to be the fastest car all week," Maguire said.
"This is my first Targa Tasmania as a driver and my expectations are first and foremost to finish the event - we're just going to run our own race and hopefully we're there at the end."
Despite an engine misfire and handling problems with his new Lamborghini, four-time champion Jason White got through the 24.5km of competitive stages in second place.
"The new gearbox we put in it is really tight, so it causes a lot of understeer," he explained.
"We'll change it tonight and chuck the old gearbox in we had before.
"We've still got a few computer issues, and we're working around these the best we can, but it's going to be a long week." WA's Ben Searcy lies third in the modern section, just three seconds off the pace in his Nissan GT-R.
A host of big name drivers sit atop the leader board in the showroom category, with 2009 champion Tony Quinn leading the way in his new McLaren 650S.
He has a nine-second advantage over eight-time winner Jim Richards in a Porsche Cayman S, with television star Grant Denyer a further second back in his Renault Megane.
Tasmanian Pete Nunn is equal first in the classic outright class with the NSW pairing of Peter and Sara Ullrich.
Nunn's Porsche 944 and Ullrich's Jensen CV8 couldn't be separated over the first day, finishing a second clear of David Gainer's Datsun 240Z.
The Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X of Stewart Liddle holds a slender lead in 4WD showroom, and Tim Hendy's Nissan is at the head of the pack in early modern.
Other class leaders are Jeff Beable (Nissan Skyline) in sports trophy, Bob Fisher (Triumph TR4) in thoroughbred trophy, and Wayne Clarke (1938 Dodge Speedster Special) in vintage.
Tuesday's day two of Targa Tasmania will see competitors head towards the North-West, with stages at Moriarty, Merseylea, Paloona, Nook, Mount Roland and Sheffield.