TARGA: Can't keep 'em down

It’s been a controversial 24 hours in Targa land as the enormity of Day One’s minimum target time regulation hits crews hard.

It is believed some 70 participating vehicles have incurred time penalties resulting from the first leg’s four seeding stages completed on Monday.

The transgressions include undercutting the minimum stage time provided, dropping under the 30km/h minimum stage speed requirement, and physically stopping on the live stage.

Unfortunately, both motoring.com.au Buckby Motorsport Renault Sport Meganes took five-minute time penalties. Mike Sinclair/Julia Barkley were docked for beating the minimum time by two seconds on one stage, and Grant Denyer/Alex Gelsomino lost time for stopping on-stage.

Even if the issues moved both Meganes down the Showroom class order (seventh for Denyer, eighth for Sinclair), they came out fighting hard for Day Two.

Again in stunning, cloudless conditions, the area to the North West of Launceston provided an idyllic autumnal backdrop to eight stages. Normally the leg-ending Mt Roland is the first Targa stage over 20km, however late resealing road works were given as the reason for its substantial shortening to 9.96km; less than half its original 26km length.

On the morning’s first test, Westwood, both Renaults met the base time (the time Targa participants aim for to ‘clean’ the stage without time loss, or ‘penalty’).

The next stage, High Plains, apparently suited the Buckby Motorsport Renaults, Denyer able to finish only one second behind Tony Quinn’s McLaren 650S. Sinclair finished fifth on the stage, behind Quinn, Denyer, Jim Richards (Porsche Cayman) and Craig Dean’s 600-plus horsepower Shelby Mustang.

The pace continued later, on the famous Sheffield stage. Denyer was able to tie Quinn by cleaning the stage, with Sinclair in a solid fourth place.

By the end of the day’s running, Denyer’s string of top-three times saw him finish the day behind class leader Quinn by 6min, 10sec – including the 5min time penalty. Sinclair’s pace also impressed with several top fives, allowing him to finish a further 49sec adrift. They still sit seventh and eighth, but have closed to only 1min, 10sec behind sixth in Denyer’s case.

“We have to acknowledge the error [yesterday], it was our mistake and we move on,” said Denyer. “But today’s been great. The car is so quick and we’ve adjusted the car for more stability. It’s particularly good under brakes, which gives me a lot of confidence to push early.”

Sinclair admitted a couple of “big slides”: “There wasn’t a stage today where I felt like I drove completely cleanly,” he said. “But the car is strong and it’s coming to us. As the week goes on the roads will become more suitable for the Megane.”

Targa spreads far beyond Launceston for the first time on Wednesday, running the North East Loop, which commences with the infamous Sideling stage before heading to the picturesque St Helens lunch stop. It culminates with the poignant Longford town stage, a key site to the legendary Tasman Series of the 1960s.

Full coverage of 2015 Targa Tasmania on motoring.com.au

Images: Angryman Photography