Former Tasmanian Matt Close and co-driver Cameron Reeves will go into next week’s Targa High Country tarmac rally in Victoria as favourites to back up their win in the event twelve months ago.
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The Porsche GT3 crew followed on their success by winning Targa Tasmania this year in the same car in comprehensive fashion, but that’s not to say it will be easy this time round as there is some solid opposition.
An impressive second place in Targa Tasmania this year by Hobart’s Michael Pritchard in the Dodge Viper ACR should put him in the hunt for a podium position, but he has a new co-driver in Nathan Walker and it may take some time for them to work as a team.
Continuing the American theme will be long-time tarmac rally competitors from Queensland, Neil Ford and Colin Maher, in a brand new Chevrolet Corvette which will be having it’s first run.
They had a third place finish in the event in 2014 and have gained plenty of tarmac rally experience over the years so cannot be discounted.
The Corvette that was previously campaigned by Neil and Colin will be driven by former V8 Supercar, and now regular Touring Car Masters driver, Steve Johnson with Nathalie Ford in the co-driver’s seat.
Johnson has competed in a number of tarmac events over the years so he knows what to expect, and this team could surprise in what has proved to be fast car.
Long-time competitor Craig Dean and co-driver Kate Catford will line up in the Shelby Mustang that was crashed during Targa Tasmania this year while in the top four and no doubt, will be aiming for a better result this time around.
There will be two Porsche Cayman GT4s in the event with Jim Richards and myself in the car that carried us to third place in Targa Tasmania this year, while Tim Hendy and co-driver Julie Winton-Monet will be in a brand new car.
Of particular interest will be the performance of TV personality and GT category competitor Grant Denyer, and experienced co-driver Dale Moscatt in the new Lotus Exige 350 which is being run in this event as a shakedown for Targa Tasmania next year.
The three-day, 18-stage event to be run over 280 competitive kilometres has attracted 120 entries in the competition classes in what will be the final shootout for most before Targa Tasmania next year.
In addition to the competition entries, an further sixty cars will be running in the restricted time speed and distance category.
In this category, speed is limited to a maximum of 130km/h, which also applies to the cars competing in the non-competitive Tour category.