Tasmania family take out sixth title in Targa Tasmania rally
Jason and his uncle John, navigating, win the Targa Tasmania for the sixth time on Saturday. Photo: ABC/Edith Bevin
Devonport’s Jason White has taken out his sixth Targa Tasmania title with his uncle John beside him navigating.
The six-day event became a battle of the Dodge Vipers, with White and second place getter Hobart surgeon Michael Pritchard both driving the hand-crafted, big price tag (around $150,000) sports cars.
White had led from the second leg of the first day, gaining a 16-second lead.
On the final day he began with a lead of 1 minute 7 seconds, having extended his lead by 25 seconds on day five.
Pritchard pushed his car to the limit in an effort to erase the deficit and at one stage through Longley in Tasmania’s Huon Valley he narrowed the gap to less than a minute.
But it was not to be and Pritchard finished second for the second year in a row.
Targa Tas 2017 winners and place getters celebrate with champagne @abcnewsTas pic.twitter.com/X0KyIOlO7j
— Edith Bevin (@EdithBevin) April 29, 2017
White convincingly won the final stage from the Huon Valley into Hobart to claim his sixth title — just two short of the record set by Jim Richards and Barry Oliver.
Matt Close, who won the title last year, came in third driving a Porsche GT3 1 minute and 16 seconds behind White.
Impressive run from 50-year-old Datsun
Queenslander Jon Siddins took out the Shannons Classic GT division in a 50-year-old Datsun with his wife Gina navigating.
Despite being up against much newer cars, his 1970 Datsun 240Z placed ninth overall.
Organisers said Targa Tasmania was not a sprint event but a test of endurance for both car and driver.
Another Targa Tasmania win for the White crew. Congrats. #Porsche comes in P3, P5 & P7 overall. https://t.co/zNq3wyGoWZ
— 🏁🏆 AUS 🏆🏁 (@Aus_Freak) April 29, 2017
They said the cars covered about 500 kilometres of some of the most twisting and testing roads in the state over the past six days.
And with limits on the number of tyre changes each car can make, it is a race of strategy and resource management, as well as speed.
A 1963 Jensen CV8, driven and navigated by Queensland husband and wife Peter and Sari Ullrich, also showed much younger cars who was boss — taking out the Classic Car handicap competition.
— ABC