Drama on Day 3 of Targa NZ

| Photographer Credit: Geoff Ridder

The crowd favorite Mazda RX8 of Marcus van Klink/Matt Richards (main photo) continued their dominating run in the 2024 Targa NZ, winning all but one stage and extended their lead to over three minutes with one day remaining while drama unfolded around them.

Day three was held with in close proximity to Cambridge in the Waikato and included six special stages with a total racing distance 115kms. Jason Gill and his co-driver Katrina Renshaw in a VW Golf were the first casualties when the clutch gave up while traveling to the first stage. This allowed Andrew Oakley to move up to third.

Andrew Oakley/Steve Hutchins continue to lead the Production 4WD Class

Meanwhile Xavier Franklin and co-driver Jaidyn Gluskie made good progress to move up the field and soon found themselves in second place before the lunchtime service. This was helped when current second placed man David Rodgers took a detour across farmland during SS16 Waterworks-Aspin Rd stage.

This stage also claimed several other cars including Nic de Waal/Fleur Pedersen who were one of the two-day entrants. Both Rodgers and de Waal were able to bring the cars back to service where repairs could be made.

Brian Green made a special appearance to drive one of the zero cars (004)

The Classic 2WD class had Bevan Claridge maintain his lead over Steven Blackley who also remained in second place and first in his class. Behind them, Keith Callinan was able to put in some good stage times to get ahead of the Holden Cheetah of the Butlers to be third in the Classic’s.

The Porsche GT4 of Xavier Franklin and Jaidyn Gluskie continued to lead the Modern 2WD class from Mike Tubbs and co-driver Matt Bailey with a two minute gap. A further one minute back is Martin Dippie and co-driver son Sam Dippie in the Porsche GT3 RS. The Production 4WD Class second placed man Robert Darrington and co-driver Brianna Little had an “off” during the second stage of the day which dropped them down the field and allowed Matt Tubbs and co-driver Matt Sayers to move up to second in the Audi RS3. Ivan Knauf and co-driver Matt Priest in a Subaru Impreza STi moved up to third. The pairing of Andrew Oakley/Steve Hutchins continues to lead this class.

The Targa Tour

New Zealand motorsport stalwart Brian Green made a special appearance to drive one of the zero cars (004). The BMW 135i that he was driving was used to provide the track clearance after the competition cars had completed each stage and before the Touring cars started their high-speed procession.

Tomorrow will be the final day and will see the cars racing on the roads near Rotorua and Tokoroa before heading back to the Novotel in Rotorua for the Ceremonial Finish.

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