Outright winners Steve Glenney and Andy Sarandis were both full of praise for the new-look Targa North West, believing the weekend’s tarmac rally was the perfect prelude to April’s Targa Tasmania.
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The overnight leaders in their 2015 Subaru WRX Sti, who also took out the GT4 category, finished ahead three minutes and 55 seconds ahead of Paul Stokell and Jason Page’s 2014 Lotus Exige, with Tony Quinn and Kate Catford’s 2001 Porsche 996 Turbo a further one minute, 12 second back, after a Sunday that included stages at Calder Road, Savage River and Hellyer Gorge.
Launceston’s Peter Nunn and Keith Johnstone were fourth overall in their 2016 Porsche GTS, while Devonport’s Jon Mitchell and Joshua Sutcliffe were fifth in their 2006 Subaru WRX S204.
Glenney and Sarandis took advantage Jason and John White’s mechanical issues on Saturday to win the opening round of the Australian Targa Championship.
“This is my first time in with Steve, so hopefully this will be about us building to some more stuff down the track,’’ co-driver Sarandis said. “To capitalise on Jason’s unfortunate luck on the weekend allowed us to to finish on top.”
Glenney added: “The conditions were very difficult in Savage River, and very greasy, as a lot of trucks go up and down there, so there is a lot of oil mixed with the water.
“But it was disappointing not to have Whitey there, because he is the benchmark, but we were still turning our car and we made sure the gap to other cars was equivalent to as if he was there.”
Meanwhile, GT2 frontrunners Stokell and Page extended their lead over Nunn and Johnstone in their class to win it by a comfortable one minute 39 seconds, with Glenney and Sarandis winning the GT4 class from Crichton Lewis and Adam Kudra.
Graham Copeland and Josh Herbert in their 1941 GMC Jimmy Special led from start-to-finish to take out Shannons Classic by a margin of eight minutes 29 seconds. Nik Prieston and Dylan Braithwaite, in a 1976 Fiat Abarth 131 Rally had a consistent weekend, to claim second place.
The 1975 Holden Torana of Michael and Daniel Bray won the Shannons Classic GT by almost 12 minutes from Mick Downey and Jarrod Van Den Akker in a 1977 Holden Commodore, while Quinn and Catford won the early modern over Jon Mitchell and Joshua Sutcliffe in a 2006 Subaru WRX S204.
Richard Woodman and Marcus Towle won the GT Sports Trophy in a 2004 Subaru WRX Sti, while in the TSD Trophy Jeffrey Wilson and Ian Samson in a 2010 Subaru WRX Sti were victorious.