Targa Tasmania: Final Day

After 11 attempts, Tony Quinn has won the Targa Tasmania. The Queensland-based ex-pat Scot took his Nissan GT-R to the Modern class win after his nearest rival, Kevin Weeks, crashed out during the final day.

"Our strategy was always to keep up with the others and if we got the wet weather over the last day or two, just to have a lunge for it," said Quinn.

"I've always been bridesmaid to Jim [Richards] or the Whites or somebody else, and we're very pleased to finally win it. It hasn't sunk in yet and it feels like it's been the toughest and most competitive week there's ever been in Targa.

"The top five or six guys have just been going hard at it. The proof in that is that Jimmy, for the first time ever, had a crash."

In the Showroom class Greg Johnston triumphed in his Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9 ahead of the similarly equipped Tony Warren. But the story of the category was the performance of Targa rookie Brendan Reeves in the Mazda Motorsport Mazda3 MPS. The 20-year-old finished third in the turbocharged two-wheel drive machine behind the all-wheel drive Mitsubishis.

"I can't tell you how much this means to [navigator and sister] Rhianon [Smyth] and I," Reeves said. "Bringing the Mazda3 MPS home as the quickest two-wheel drive car in Showroom is fantastic. Working for the Mazda factory team is a great experience and one that I hope we can repeat next year in the new generation Mazda3 MPS."

Reeves' teammate Rick Bates wasn't so fortunate, as the turbo problems he encountered on Saturday's stages continued to plague him through most of the final day and he slipped down the leaderboard.

It was better news for the RX-8 SP driven by defending Targa champion Steve Glenney. Although the car encountered several minor problems during its maiden event, Glenney is confident that it can be turned into a winner after he finished the event in 10th place.

"Despite our many issues, the RX-8 SP has proved to be one of the best balanced, best braking cars I've driven and it has so much potential that it could be a race winner with a little more development," Glenney said. "In the wet this car is just so well balanced."

Check out our Motorsport report this week for more details from this year's Targa Tasmania.

Classic:
1. Rex Broadbent/Michael Goedheer, Porsche 911 Carrera RS
2. Bill Pye/Grant Geelan, Porsche 911 RS
3. Ben Wooster/Tim Kulhanek, Nissan Skyline GTS-t

Showroom:
1. Greg Johnston/Mike Stoneman, 2007 Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9
2. Tony Warren /Natasha Deniese, 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9
3. Brendan Reeves/Rhianon Smyth, 2007 Mazda 3 MPS

Early Classic:
1. Paul Batten/Mike Batten, 1961 Volvo PV544
2. Peter Ullrich/Sari Ullrich , 1963 Jensen CV8
3. Andrew White/Ashley Yelds, 1961 Volvo 122S

Late Classic (Handicap):
1. Rex Broadbent/Michael Goedheer, Porsche 911 Carrera RS
2. Bill Pye/Grant Geelan, Porsche 911 RS
3. Ben Wooster/Tim Kulhanek, Nissan Skyline GTS-t

Early Modern:
1. Ric Shaw/James Parish, 1997 Mazda RX7
2. Jeff Beable/Nerida Beable, 2000 Nissan Skyline GTR V-Spec
3. Matt Walsh/Patrick Bourke, 1994 BMW M3

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