TARGA: Day Six – Matt Close takes the big one

Victorian Matt Close has finally achieved his first Targa Tasmania victory after years of being oh-so-close (no pun intended… believe it or not).

The 25th running of the most famous modern tarmac rally had it all; a fraught fight at the top for its majority, crashes, comebacks… but most of all camaraderie.

Close’s Porsche 991 911 GT3 had intensively battled local hero Jason White’s Dodge Viper ACR from day one until the middle of day five, only for the V10-powered Mopar to blow its engine on Mt Arrowsmith.

That left Close with a solid gap to Michael Pritchard’s Dodge Viper ACR… but anyone who thinks the last day of Targa is a walk in the park usually ends up ditching their car off a road somewhere south of Hobart.

This year Close had no such issues, managing the gap to a final advantage of 6:41 over Pritchard… though not without a coupe of moments in the slippery, showery conditions.

“We had a bit of a fright on the Tinderbox Stage with a big moment and then three kays into Pelverata one of our rear tyres blew out,” Close said. “We had a relatively good lead, but you never know.

“It was a very stressful hour – we got in before the sweep car and within our late time, but you just don’t need that.

“It’s taken me 12 Targas to win – I hope it doesn’t take another 12 for my next one.

“We’ve already started planning for next year and we’ll make a few changes to the car and we’ll get better,” Close said.

In third place was eight-time Targa Tasmania winner Jim Richards in his Porsche Cayman GT4.

In GT4 it was Steve Glenney taking a comfortable victory in a 2008 Subaru Impreza STI. He finished a comfortable 3:16 ahead of Tony Quinn’s Lamborghini Huracan with Angus Kennard’s Impreza STI in third.

“This is my second win in Targa Tasmania – I’ve had far too many seconds before this,” Glenney said.

“It’s different this year in GT4 compared to outright previously, but I think our stage times would have had us on an outright podium anyway if there was one.

“It’s been a bit weird having started the event in the navigator’s seat and taking over driving after Ben (Newman) had blurry vision, but it’s great to win.”

The Modern class saw Brendan Winterbourn victorious in his 2011 Mitsubishi Evolution X. He finished a comfortable 5:15 ahead of the similar 2008 Evo X of Greg Burrowes, with Peter Mayer’s 2007 Porsche 911 GT3 taking the final podium slot.

While most of the categories remained similar from Leg Five, there was a shift in Early Modern with the hitherto-dominant Lancer Evolution VI RS TME of Alan Roe stopping on the 37th of 38 stages.

That left Andrew Bollom at the head of the class in his 1995 Mazda RX-7 SP, winning by 1:15 over Mark Balcombe’s similar machine. Stephen Thatcher’s ‘Nissan Skyline GT-R ATTKD Select R SP’ (to give it its full name) finished third.

Jon Siddins capped a triumphant Targa return in his 1970 Datsun 240Z, taking the Classic GT (formerly Classic Outright) category with a convincing display.

The six-pot screamer (the car, not Jon) took the trophy by 5:25 over Barry Faux in his 1985 Mazda RX-7. Faux moved up from third as the unfortunate Keith Callinan retired his BDG-powered Ford Escort after not completing the first stage of the day. Cameron Wearing ended up third in his 1981 Triumph TR7 V8.

Moving to the Classic Handicap segment it was the 1982 Porsche 944 of Leigh Achterberg that lasted the distance, claiming the win by 1:06.

Peter Ulrich and his 1963 Jensen CV8 led the category convincingly until Leg Five, when a hub issue forced him down to fifth position. He raced against remaining time and distance, but finished second in the final reckoning. The final category place went to Paul Freestone’s 1960 Aston Martin DB4.

It was also wonderful to see the two oldest cars in the event make the finish line, at Princes Wharf No 1 in Hobart.

Wayne Clark’s 1938 Dodge Speedster Special had the victory made early, but Graham Copeland was able to restart after missing time early in the event, finishing an hour and 1:32.2 away on time.

Congratulations to all those that made it back to Hobart; we’ll see you again next year.