RallySport Magazine November 2016

REPORT: TARGA HIGH COUNTRY
WILD WEATHER NO PROBLEM FOR CLOSE
Victorian Matt Close took his
Porsche GT3 to outright victory
and GT2 competition honours at
Targa High Country, which finished at
the top of Mt Buller on November 6.
After the opening two days of intense
duelling, Close started the final leg
with just a one second lead over fellow
GT2 competitor, Tasmanian Michael
Pritchard, driving a Dodge Viper ACR.
Overnight snow on Mt Buller saw
Close adopt a cautious approach on
the wet and slippery run down the
Grant Denyer
and Jim Richards
at an autograph
session in
Mansfield.
Michael Pritchard finished
second in his Dodge Viper.
mountain, and he dropped 16 seconds
to his rival.
But on the very next stage he
bounced back, grabbing the lead on the
40 kilometre long Jamieson test.
With his confidence high, and
hard tyres now working well, Close
pushed on to extend his lead on every
stage, finishing the three-day enduro
59 seconds clear of his fellow GT2
competitor.
Third in the Mt Buller GT2
competition went to Craig Dean and
Kate Catford in a 2015 Mustang Shelby
GT, one minute 14 seconds further
back.
In Shannons Classic GT, Pete Nunn
looked set for an emphatic victory,
having led from the very start on Friday
morning, but on the penultimate stage
his 1985 Porsche 944 Turbo developed
clutch problems, forcing him out of the
rally.
His misfortune handed the lead
and the competition victory to South
Australian, Craig Haysman, in his
thumping Triumph TR7 V8. The Targa
veteran, with co-driver Julie Boorman,
finished three minutes and 38 seconds
clear of Mark Hammond and Lisa
Dunkerton in a 1980 Jaguar XJS.
Roger Lomman and Annie Bainbridge
were third in their 1971 Datsun 240Z,
another one minute 29 seconds further
back.
The Shannons Classic competition
went to Lindsay Stone and Simon
Martin in their 1985 Mazda RX-7.
The 1971 Porsche 916 of Ted Banks
and Bruce Douglas kept the pressure
on until the end, eventually finishing
just 45 seconds in arrears, while Colin
Byrne and Paul Stoopman performed
strongly to move up to third, one
minute and 26 seconds behind in their
1971 Alfa Romeo GTV 2000.
One of the drives of the event came
from Alan Roe and Michael Lloyd, who
took the Duttons Garage Early Modern
honours in their 2000 Mitsubishi Evo
6.5RS.
Roe was quick across all of the 277.71
competitive kilometres, and in outright
terms was third fastest overall.
Second in Early Modern went to
the highly consistent pairing of Adam
Kaplan and Aleshia Penney, one minute
31 seconds behind Roe, with Liam and
Larry Howarth, in a 1995 Nissan GT-R,
rounding out the podium a further one
minute 12 seconds back.
In the RDA Brakes GT4 competition,
Trevor Macleod had the highly
experienced Steve Glenney calling the
notes, and they proved a formidable
combination in their 2010 Subaru WRX
STI.
Others around them faltered, with
overnight second placed Barrie Smith
and Anthony McLoughlin forced out
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