MOTORSPORT: Dream Targa Tassie win for Stokell and Lotus

Now in his 50s, long-time competitor Paul Stokell has finally won outright the event he considers the hardest – Targa Tasmania.

Tasmanian-born but now Queensland-based, Stokell – a triple Australian Drivers’ Champion in Formula Brabham/Holden open-wheelers in the mid-1990s – took victory in the six-day tarmac rally around the Apple Island driving a Lotus Exige Sport 350 with Kate Catford as his co-driver.

They won by almost three minutes, with consistency their strong suit in the difficult, often wet conditions on the Tasmanian roads last week.

Jason and John White’s Dodge Viper was demoted to the middle of the field after two days, ending their hopes of a record-equalling eighth victory, while Steve Glenney and Dennis Sims crashed their Lotus Exige on day three after having assumed the lead.

Stokell and Catford then battled the Porsche 911 GT3 RS of Matt Close and Cameron Reeves, never surrendering the lead over the last two days.

Close and Reeves eventually dropped to third outright, behind the Nissan GT-R R35 of GT4 class winners Angus Kennard and Ian Wheeler, and second in the GT2 class behind Stokell and Catford.

Brendan Reeves and co-driver Rhianon Gelsomino posted a giant-killing debut for the Hyundai i30N hot hatch, finishing sixth in the GT2 class and 15th outright ahead of more fancied sports cars like a Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, Dodge Viper, Porsche GT3 RS, Porsche Cayman GT4, Audi TTRS and BMW M2, to be the first front-wheel drive finisher.

Michael and Daniel Bray won the Shannons Classic GTs in a 1975 Holden Torana after a 15-minute penalty dropped the 1979 Commodore VB of Mick Downey and Nicholas Browne to third.

Stokell’s win was the first for the Lotus brand at the 28th running of the rally, which this year covered 33 special stages and a total distance of more than 2000km from Launceston in the north and Strahan in the west, finishing in Hobart in the south.

“I’ve always called Targa Tasmania the hardest event I’ve ever done,” said 2018 CAMS Australian Targa Championship winner Stokell.

“It’s the most challenging and the most individual thing because you are out there on your own.

“The conditions we had … we went from icy roads that were so slippery that you could hardly stay on them to high grip, high-speed stuff … you’ve got to adapt pretty quickly.

“To win a circuit racing championship, you can never take it away, but this means a lot.”

An outright Targa Tasmania victory had also been a burning ambition for South Australian Catford.

“This is very special – it has long been a dream of mine,” she said.

“Sometimes you think it’s an unrealistic dream, so I’m really excited to win Targa Tasmania.

“In the wet conditions it took a lot of focus to get through safely. Paul really drew on all his experience in the wet.

“Anything could and did happen so it’s great to be in this position.”

Former winner Close, a Victorian, said rain before the start of the final day’s stages south of Hobart “meant our chances of running Stokell down went out the window”.

“We also could have potentially run down Gus [Angus Kennard] had it of been dry … [but] we just made a decision to bring it home. To be a predominantly wet Targa and to be beaten by one four-wheel-drive we are massively happy.”

The two remaining rounds of this year’s CAMS Australian Targa Championship are the second Targa Great Barrier Reef around Cairns on August 30-September 1 and Victoria’s Targa High Country on November 8-10.

2019 Targa Tasmania class winners:
Outright: Paul Stokell and Kate Catford, 2014 Lotus Exige 350
Dutton Garage GT2: Paul Stokell and Kate Catford, 2014 Lotus Exige 350
GT4: Angus Kennard and Ian Wheeler, 2015 Nissan GT-R R35
Shannons Classic GT: Michael and Daniel Bray, 1975 Holden Torana
Shannons Classic: Nik Prieston and Dylan Braithwaite, 1975 Fiat 131 Abarth Rallye
Dutton Garage Early Modern: Guy and John Lilleyman, 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX
Country Club GT Sports Trophy: Steven Sher and Fergal Murphy, 2016 Lotus Exige
Shannons Thoroughbred Trophy: Tyson and Celise Cowie, 1970 Ford Escort Mk1
Budget TSD Trophy: Darryl and Peter Marshall, 2002 Ford Falcon Ute Pursuit 250
Spirit of Tasmania Rookie Rallye: Kristain Downing and Richard Woodman, 2011 Subaru WRX STI

Images: Angryman Photography