TARGA: Motoring Megane completes epic stages
High-speed runs favour exotics as the Buckby Motorsport Renault drops to sixthThe fast, flowing and uphill sections of Targa Tasmania’s third leg proved quite a challenge for the Buckby Motorsport motoring.com.au Renault Sport Megane.
Categorised in the GT2 class for showroom-specification two-wheel drive machines, driver Mike Sinclair and co-driver Julia Barkley flew the flag for front-wheel drive machines, but had to give best to Jim Richards on the day.
Eight-time Targa outright winner Richards used his Porsche Cayman GT4 to leap-frog Sinclair, dropping the Renault to sixth in class, behind two Dodge Viper ACRs, a Porsche 911 991 GT3, a Ford Mustang Shelby GT and the Richards Cayman GT4.
“It was a challenging day,” admitted Sinclair. “The car is going beautifully – it’s driver not so much – but there’s a lot of uphill fast sections that suited other cars.
“We are looking forward to tomorrow. Last year, Leg Four down the West Coast was the best day for our car and we were able to beat Jim… but he has a faster car this year,” he concluded.
The Renault finished with the fifth fastest time on three of the day’s eight stages, with a pair of sixths, two sevenths and an eighth place on the 7.06km Moriarty, where the crew was slowed by an incident.
Leg Four winds its way from Burnie, on the northern coast of Tasmania, down to Strahan on the south west coast. With the incredible Hellyer Gorge and tumbling, tight downhill sections of Rosebery, can the Buckby Motorsport Renault return to its strengths?
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