Tasmanians Eddie Maguire and Peter Nunn held on to score respective wins in the Modern and Classic categories of the Targa High Country tarmac rally in Victoria.
Maguire, who had former Targa Tasmania winner Steve Glenney calling the shots in the co-driver seat, won by more than two minutes in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9.
Nunn (1985 Porsche 944 Turbo) also saw his first Targa victory, winning by more than six minutes in the Classic section.
The final day of Targa High Country saw competitors leave the resort village of Mt Buller and head to Eildon via four stages, and then back again, with a competitive distance of 126km.
Maguire had a late drama when his car became stuck in fourth gear during the morning’s stages, but quick work from his service crew soon had the Lancer repaired and back on the road to victory.
Two other Evo drivers, Matthew Selley and Toby Gill filled out the podium placings.
“On the third stage this morning we lost all gears, but managed to find a broken roll pin in the gearbox after the stage,” Maguire said.
“Luckily Jason White was on hand to fix it – if it wasn’t for him we’d have been out of the event.”
Nunn’s victory was comfortable in the end after his closest rival, Craig Haysman retired his Triumph TR7 V8 on the last day with clutch problems.
That elevated Steve McClintock to second place in a 1985 Mazda RX7, while the 51-year old Jensen CV8 of Peter Ullrich finished in a brilliant third place after a great drive.
“I lost the plot a bit on the long stage and drove terribly, so we upped the pace again after that. I’d never been in this position of leading an event before, so it was all a new experience,” Nunn said.
Bathurst legend Jim Richards had trailed rival Neill Ford in the Showroom competition at the start of the day, but the wily veteran came good when it counted to give his Porsche an 11s win over the Chevrolet Corvette of Ford.
The 4WD Showroom cars of Stewart Liddle (Mitsubishi Lancer) and Angus Kennard (Subaru WRX) couldn’t be separated after two days, but in the final stanza it was Kennard who came out on top with a margin of 10s.
There were convincing wins to Peter Ullrich (Early Classic) and Peter Nunn (Late Classic), Adam Kaplan took out Early Modern in his Holden Commodore after the Lancer Evo of Jason Whitburn crashed three stages from home, while Ben Newman was a runaway winner in Sports Trophy in a Jaguar F-Type Coupe R.
In Thoroughbred Trophy, Keith Brooke’s Porsche was too good while Alan Gluyas was the class of the TSD Trophy competition.
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