Evo leads Targa Day Two

South Australian Steve Glenney produced a superb drive on day two of Targa Tasmania to establish a handy 40sec lead over eight-times Targa champion and overnight leader, Jim Richards.

Glenney, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, was brilliant on the opening Sidling stage, taking 12 seconds off Richards' 2008 Porsche 911 GT2, and immediately claimed the lead.

Over the next seven stages he continued to show his liking for the tight, twisty roads in Tasmania's North-East to end the day with a handy buffer with three days remaining.

Tony Longhurst, driving the Les Walkden-prepared Subaru Impreza WRX STI, was up in second place with two stages to go, but ran off on the Rossarden stage. While he rejoined, he was forced to replace a wheel and tyre incurring a two-minute penalty and slipping out of contention.

In the Outright Classic competition, Rex Broadbent and Peter Eames, both driving 1974 Porsche 911 RSs, continued their battle across the day's eight stages. Broadbent, the reigning Classic champion, pulled away from his rival and will take a 53sec buffer into Friday's leg.

Third in the Classic competition is still Victorian Gavin James, a further 18sec back in his 1989 Porsche 944 S2.

Rick Bates heads the Showroom 2WD class by 51sec over fellow Mazda3 MPS driver, Alister McRae.

The 4WD Showroom class has been dominated again by Hobart driver, Tony Warren in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. Warren took a commanding 2min 24sec lead over Queenslander Scott Millar, with South Australian Malcolm Klopp a further 59sec back.

The second Targa Rookie Rallye concluded on Day Two. The leading Classic competitor was David Griffiths in a 1989 Nissan Skyline GTS-t while Stephen Bradford, in a 1999 Subaru Impreza WRX STI took the modern honours.

The day produced plenty of drama, with a number of cars leaving the road, but everyone who saw Glenney's attack marvelled at his skill. The thoroughbred racehorse trainer was pleased to put so much time between himself and the Targa master, Richards.

"We've stepped up the pace today to see where we would sit with our times and I think it has worked well," Glenney said.

"Today's stages have really suited the car and my driving, so we've been able to raise the bar a bit and push harder.

"Ideally we'd like to maintain the lead we've got and look after our tyres. We would like to maintain this lead for the next couple of days and see where we end up after that."

Bates was pleased to have had another clean day.

"We had a great day and after Alister (Mazda team mate Alister McRae) had a problem, we took it slightly easier than because he was our main rival," Bates said.

"The Mazda MPS has been going very well and we want to get it to the finish and win the showroom category, which is important to the manufacturers."

Griffiths was overjoyed with his Classic victory, and is already planning his entry into the Competition section of Targa in 2009. After working for various teams as a mechanic at Targa for the past ten years, Griffiths was thrilled to get into a car and compete for himself. The Rookie Rallye, which was first run in 2007, was the catalyst for him entering this year's event.

"We watched the Rookie Rallye closely last year, and then purchased the Skyline off another competitor and entered ourselves," he added.

"We had a small drama on the first day when we couldn't get fifth or reverse gear, but that wasn't an issue on the competitive stages -- provided we didn't spin the car and need to use reverse gear. Apart from that, we had no moments at all, and the tyres still look like new."

To comment on this article click here