TARGA: Day One - All roads lead to George Town

Stunning blue skies welcomed competitors as they left the Launceston Silverdome for the first day of Targa Tasmania competition.

Designed so crews are eased into what will be a strenuous week of Targa competition, the first leg covers only 24.48km over four stages, the cluster of 90-degree corners found in the George Town street stage showcasing the sport within town confines as competitors oversteer for the masses.

But while it may seem simple on paper, as ever the first day had its fair share of hard luck stories, proving once more that you can only lose on the first day in Tassie.

Steve Glenney, one of the pre-event favourites aboard the Nissan R35 GT-R co-driven by Bernie Webb, had a terrible morning. “We’ve had a random computer issue on the third stage which put the computer into limp mode, which has never happened before,” he said.

“And just now [in George Town] we’ve broken a drive shaft. We’re not sure if we will make it to the start tomorrow or not, as it’s made a nasty mess under there.”

Things were better for Tasmanian hot-shoe Eddie Maguire and co-driver Michael Potter. They have steered their 2007 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX to the leg one lead.

“It’s a great start to the week. George Town really suited our car – it was tight and nimble with 90-degrees corners,” Maguire said. “It’s a hard stage for the GTRs to get around, [so] it’s understandable we did OK today, but I’m sure tomorrow will be different.” He leads Modern by two seconds overnight.

Fellow Tasmanians Jason and John White hold second place in their fan-favourite Lamborghini Gallardo, with Ben Searcy and Mitchell Lukasz third in another 2007 Lancer Evolution IX, five seconds off the lead.

Turning back the clock to Shannons Classic Outright, the mighty Ulrich 1963 Jensen CV8 is tied with the Nunn/Johnstone 1985 Porsche 944 Turbo, which is 22 years the Jensen’s junior. Two classic Porsche 911s – the Cook/Cooper 1973 RS and 1985 Carrera of McAuley/Etienne -- are tied for third.

The Country Club 4WD Showroom class is led by the Liddle/Lloyd Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X RS, holding a slim one-second lead over the Perini Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG, the Kennard/Wheeler 2009 Subaru Impreza STi another two seconds further back.

In Wrest Point Showroom – where the Buckby Motorsport motoring.com.au Renault Meganes are competing – Quinn/Tillett’s McLaren 650S leads by nine seconds from the Richards/Oliver Porsche Cayman S., Grant Denyer and Alex Gelsomino are only a second adrift of the Porsche.

Finally, the single Vintage entry of event veterans Clark/Berriman is still competing, the 1938 Dodge Speedster Special attracting as much attention as ever.

For day two, things become more serious with 89km of competition to the north west of Launceston. The final two stages of Paloona and Mt Roland exceed 15km for the first time this year, before crews return to the Launceston Silverdome once more.

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

Images: Angryman Photography