Targa competitor Matt Rickards and navigator Michael Potter. Picture: RICHARD JUPE Source: News Limited
THE battle for the 2014 Targa Tasmania crown is wide open after the loss of reigning champion Jason White and his all-conquering Lamborghini. And Hobart driver Matt Rickards believes this could be the opportunity he has been waiting for.
White will compete in the event, but not aboard his Lamborghini Gallardo, which burned to the ground in Targa Wrest Point in February. Instead he will be driving a Mitsubishi Lancer.
That rally was won by Rickards and his navigator Michael Potter, also of Hobart, who took their up-specced 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer to the biggest win of their rally careers, claiming Targa Wrest Point on Outright Modern.
Their Lancer was upgraded to 2005 Evo VII to achieve victory in 2012 TWP Early Modern and further developed into Evo IX specifications to qualify for the Modern category in this year’s Australian Targa Championships, with Targa Wrest Point round three of the four-round series.
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It will be his first crack at Targa’s Outright Modern title.
“Targa Tasmania is all very new to me, but I’m hoping the car will be reliable and we have done enough reconnaissance to get a good understanding of the stages,” Rickards said.
“We’ve already spent five or six days writing our pacenotes, and we’ll put in another three or four days driving the stages before the event.”
They are not in the hunt for the Australian Targa Championship, so Rickards can concentrate on driving fast and aiming for the Targa Tasmania title.
“We’ll be driving as hard as we can and aiming for an outright win or a place on the podium,” he said.
“But it certainly won’t be easy. Steve Glenney will be the man to catch in his Nissan GT-R, but Jason White (Mitsubishi), Tony Quinn (Nissan) and Matt Close (Audi) will also be very fast.
“We just need to make sure we keep the pressure on and don’t give them too much of a head start early in the event.
“If we keep the pressure on, there’s more chance that others can have mechanical problems, which could work to our advantage.”
Targa Tasmania starts next Tuesday with the prologue stage in George Town to seed the field from slowest to fastest.
Targa then runs over five days and covers 2000km over 40 stages, starting in Launceston, where it is based for three days, before heading down the West Coast to Strahan for two nights. On the final day the field travels to Hobart via Queenstown for the finish at Wrest Point.
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