Targa starts with Quinn in control
TARGA veteran Tony Quinn has dominated the pack through the twists of the Gillies Range on day one of the tropical tarmac rally.
At the helm of a Nissan GT-R, Quinn made his intentions clear from the start in the GT class.
Tony and Sandra Seymour maintained a solid day by claiming the Little Mulgrave stage win, which helped the Lotus Exige crew stay within striking distance of the Nissan.
The third edition of Targa Great Barrier Reef had kicked off with a ceremonial start at Reef Hotel Casino, with Member for Cairns Michael Healy providing the ceremonial ribbon shearing that saw a field of classic and sports road racers make their way to the Tablelands and back.
The remaining two days promise intense action for drivers and cars on some of the best rally roads in the country.
By the tour’s end, each crew would have faced 18 stages and covered 912km of tarmac.
Luke Anear debuted a Mercedes GTR with co-driver Andy Sarandis and is outright third. He is expected to challenge in coming days once he settles into the new super car.
Anear had taken the plunge in swapping the 2015 Subaru WRX, which he piloted to the 2019 Motorsport Australia GT4 Championship, for the high-tech Mercedes.
The GTR’s undercarriage had been replaced with acclaimed Dutch company Reiger’s suspension and dampers.
“We sent over the original GTR suspension to Reiger in
The Netherlands where they designed a whole new suspension and shock set-up,” Anear said. “This is the first time that Reiger has designed a suspension for an AMG GTR.
“The Reiger suspension will allow us to hit the bumps and jumps at speed.”
Ahead of the pack of classic cars was another Queenslander and Targa veteran, Jon Siddins, in a beautifully restored 1970 Datsun 240Z while Victorian Peter Gluskie leads the way in Classic Handicap in his 1989 BMW 325.
The field heads south on
Saturday for the new stages on the Cassowary Coast around Innisfail with a lunch stop at Mission Beach before the Targa cavalcade winds its way through the streets of Cairns from 3.40pm.
Outright rankings
1 Quinn/Foster: 2018 Nissan GT-R R35
2 Seymour/Seymour 2013 Lotus Exige +37s
3 Anear/Sarandis 2019 Mercedes AMG GT R +52s
4 Udy/Williams 2019 Lotus Exige 410 Sport +1m.1s 5 Genocchio/Horsfall 1983 Holden Commodore VH +2m.07s