2019 Targa Great Barrier Reef is go

Hot on the heels of a successful inaugural event last weekend, organisers of the Targa Great Barrier Reef will open early-bird entries for next year’s sequel tomorrow (September 7).

Entries for the now-confirmed 2019 event, which will become the world’s second largest tarmac rally behind the iconic Targa Tasmania, will be capped at 250 after this year’s event saw more than 200 vehicles participating in both competitor classes and open Tour groups.

“I haven’t heard anybody say they’re not coming back,” said event director Mark Perry on the Targa Australia website.

Based in the Atherton Tablelands outside of Cairns, this year’s course included 16 Targa stages including a combination of short technical sections and long flowing roads like the Gillies Highway and Kuranda range route.

At three days and a total of 900km of driving, the Targa Great Barrier Reef event is shorter than the six competitive days of Targa Tasmania and organisers have confirmed they are looking at additional routes in North Queensland.

Up for discussion are a stage that would take in the coast road to Port Douglas, while a possible street circuit in Cairns is also on the cards.

“It’s definitely on the wish-list,” said Perry.

“We would need to be 110 per cent convinced we could do it safely.”

The winners of this year’s Targa Great Barrier Reef event were seven-times Targa Tasmania champions, Jason and John White.

The uncle and nephew team drove their Dodge Viper to victory, finishing 53 seconds ahead of the Lotus Exige of Paul Stokell and Malcolm Read.

Stokell and Read are now current leaders of the Australian Targa Championship as competitors head into the final round, Targa High Country in November.

motoring.com.au took part in this year’s Porsche Tour around Cairns, joining Porsche owners who put their road cars through their paces at Targa.

Stay tuned for coverage on this unique event and to find out more about driving in a Targa Tour event, visit the Targa Australia website.