Jason White is determined to beat rival Steve Glenney at this weekend’s Targa High Country in Victoria as he strives to defend his Australian title.
The Tasmanian’s Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera had to play second fiddle to local ace Glenney in a Nissan GT-R at August’s event in Adelaide and the fight between them in North East Victoria’s twisting tarmac stages is sure to go down to the final stage at Mount Buller.
White infamously won Targa High Country in 2011, crossing the finish line of the final stage with the rear of his $600,000 Lamborghini on fire after a hydraulic fluid leak. Last year, he was on track to take back-to-back wins, only to see a mechanical problem on the second day sideline his Italian supercar.
“It may only be the second round of four in the championship, but we always go into events with a win or bust attitude,” White said.
“Since Targa Adelaide we’ve done quite a lot of testing and have made some spring and shock absorber changes to the car which have seen us make some pretty good gains in performance.
“The car now sticks to the road a lot better in the corners, and we’ve managed this without inducing too much understeer in the front.
“We know Steve’s car will be fast on day one where his horsepower advantage will come into play, but hopefully we will have his measure on the tighter and twistier stages on day two,” White said.
Glenney has been meticulously fine-tuning his Nissan GT-R, and in wet conditions in South Australia, he was too fast for his main rival.
Last year Glenney finished fourth at Targa High Country – but it was from the co-driver’s seat for Robin Knaggs in the same Nissan GT-R that he will drive this weekend.
“We had a fantastic run in Adelaide, which makes me very nervous about what could go wrong in this event, as you rarely have two trouble-free events in a row,” Glenney said.
“There are so many electronic gizmos on these cars that can play up, so you just have to push as hard as you can and hope that everything holds together.
“The cooler weather predicted this weekend should help reduce tyre wear over stages that are usually pretty hard on tyres, and hopefully both Jason (White) and I can have a good battle.”
Veteran touring car driver and multiple Targa Tasmania winner, Jim Richards, is another who will be eager to push for a top three place, with his 2011 Porsche 911 GT2 RS well suited to the Targa High Country stages.
Similarly, the Melbourne husband and wife pairing of Matt and Casey Close have been regular pacesetters in their 2010 Audi TT RS Plus, and can be expected to be right near the top of the leaderboard.
Starting with the traditional closed-road stage around the streets of the Mansfield on Friday night, Targa High Country will put competitors to the test over 16 stages around the Mansfield, Mount Buller and Lake Eildon region.
The field will include Greg Garwood who will compete despite crashing a helicopter at Mount Buller yesterday.
The field of over 160 cars will be made up of competitors in 10 different Targa categories, headed by the outright contending Modern section, and with classes for Classics, Showroom cars and Muscle Cars.
VIDEO: The dramatic finish for Jason White at Targa High Country in 2010
