Greg Murphy takes on Targa

Greg Murphy, New Zealand racing great and HSV Ambassador, will get to enjoy his first taste of the Targa New Zealand tarmac motor rally later at the end of October.

The former V8 Supercar ace, and four-times Bathurst winner, took on promotional duties in the six-day October 26 - 31 event behind the wheel of a 430kW HSV GTS.

As part of the “job”, the 43-yeardold TV pundit got to “chauffeur” local dignitaries, “win-a-ride” competition winners and members of the media through stages before the main field each day.

“I’m really looking forward to this opportunity,” Murphy said before the event. “Targa’s something I’ve always been intrigued with but never been able to look at because of other commitments. So to get the chance to drive my HSV GTS through the stages in a promotional capacity is a good way to get involved and see what it’s all about.”

There will be two promotional cars running in this year’s event with the other being driven by local motor racing personality, “Racing Ray” Williams.

HSV has been providing promotional cars for the Targa event for the past six years and HSV’s NZ regional manager Andrew Lamb, says he is a big fan of the multiday annual odyssey.

“New Zealand has some amazing roads and we enjoy the competitive environment of Targa. It’s an event that attracts a wide cross-section of people and cars and we think it’s a good place to showcase our highperformance vehicles,” he said.

This year’s six-day Targa NZ event started in Auckland on (Labour Day) Monday, October 26 and finished in Palmerston North on Saturday, October 31.

In-between were 35 closed special stages comprising a total of 1035.5km linked by 1,431.7km of touring stages, with overnight stops in Hamilton, New Plymouth (two nights), Palmerston North and Havelock North, before the finish back in Palmerston North .