TARGA: Motoring Megane eyeing top five

The team motoring.com.au Buckby Motorsport Renault Megane RS of Mike Sinclair and Julia Barkley has built from yesterday’s solid base to sit in the top five after two days of Targa competition.

The GT2 category contains a vast array of two-wheel drive machines, including event favourites Jason White in his Dodge Viper ACR and Matt Close’s Porsche 991 911 GT3.

After a fraught 70 competitive kilometres taking in Tasmania’s stunning North East region, the Megane sits fifth in the category and is locked in battle with eight-time Targa Tasmania winner Jim Richards in his Porsche Cayman GT4.

The Renault sits three seconds ahead of the Porsche as crews overnight for the last time in Launceston.

“We enjoyed The Sideling, and were quick at certain times of the day, but I still feel I’m re-learning the car,” explained Sinclair.

“We made some adjustments at lunch time and beat Pritchard’s Viper on the tight Elephant Pass. It’s just a matter of wearing the big bangers down.”

The Renault’s best stage finish was fourth on the Elephant Pass, with equal fifth on The Sideling, Weldborough Pass and Rossarden highlighting its consistency.

Sinclair will make some running suspension adjustments to adapt the car to the differing stages as the event wears on.

With continued fine weather another strength that could play to the crew’s hands is tyre wear, with some of the heavier cars already showing signs of distress as they head into some 137km of competitive stages for Leg Three.

Burnie becomes a default Rally HQ Wednesday night as entrants tackle some legendary stages throughout the day, including the daunting Riana and Cethana monsters.

At a combined 74km, these two behemoths eclipse total Leg Two competitive distance… but there’s another six stages to fill in around them.