South Australian Steve Glenney has showed his class over the slippery stages of Targa Adelaide, extending his lead to 63-seconds in his 2009 Nissan GT-R.
In treacherous conditions in the Adelaide Hills, Glenney was too fast for his rivals, with reigning event champion, Jason White (Lamborghini Gallardo), the next best in second, and Matthew Rickards (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo) third another 53 seconds back.
Day two of Targa Adelaide was the longest of the event with 72.05 kilometres of competitive driving over eight closed road stages. The day started with the tricky Montacute test, and included two runs up and over Mt Lofty.
Glenney and co-driver, Bernie Webb, started the day with an 18 second advantage and were determined to increase that advantage over White’s Lamborghini, the winner in Adelaide last year.
With his Nissan GT-R on song, Glenney was able to win six of the day’s eight stages, and finished the day with a lead of over a minute.
“It’s been an interesting tussle. Conditions this morning were just treacherous – there’s was water running across the road everywhere and it was basically just survival out there,” Glenney said.
“We really had to concentrate hard this morning to make sure we had the correct line around every corner – it was absolutely hard work.
“The car was slipping and sliding around all over the place, but we stuck to our plan of one corner at a time and being disciplined to stay on the pacenotes and it worked, so we’re rapt with the lead we’ve got at the moment.”
With two days of the event still to come, Adelaide’s Craig Haysman (1981 Triumph TR7 V8) leads fellow local Simon Hoff (1975 Ford Escort RS2000) by 24 seconds in the Classic Outright competition, after overnight leader, Roger Paterson (1974 Porsche 911) crashed out on the opening stage of the day.
The third day of Targa Adelaide once again heads into the hills surrounding the South Australian capital for a further eight competitive stages, and with further showers predicted, conditions will again be tricky for drivers.
