Subaru Impreza WRX pair Nick De Waal and co-driver Shane Reynolds hold an early lead in this year’s three-day Targa Hawke’s Bay after a dominant first day which saw them win four of the six stages between Taupo and Havelock North.
Arriving in the Hawke’s Bay town this evening the pair had a 21.9 second lead over the second-placed Porsche GT3 RS of Martin Dippie and co-driver Jona Grant from Dunedin and a 46.1 second buffer over third placed Steven Kirk-Burnnand and his co-driver Mike Hay in Kirk-Burnnand’s BMW 318ti.
Kirk-Burnnand and Hay were one of only two pairings to take a stage win off fellow Aucklanders De Waal and Reynolds, the BMW dynamic BMW duo quicker through the first of the two marathon (39.92km) stages over the long, fast, Gentle Annie road from Taihape to Hawke’s Bay.
The other stage winners were Christchurch pair Rory and his father Stewart Callaway in their Subaru WRX.
They won the first stage of the day, the 11.6km Waiouru sprint south-west of the central North Island army town, before slowly slipping down the leader board and ending up listed as a retirement after the fourth (Taihape West) stage but coming back to finish the day in a still respectable 13th place overall.
The best performance by a local (Hawke’s Bay) pairing, meanwhile came from local dairy farmer Ivan Knauf and his co-driver Trevor Corbin (Subaru WRX) who are sixth overall after the first day.
This year’s expanded, three-day Targa Hawke’s Bay event has attracted a 50-strong entry of competing cars and a similar number in the allied but non-competitive Targa Tour.
Targa NZ events traditionally attract a wide array of competing vehicles with this year’s Hawke’s Bay one no exception.
As well as holding the overall lead Nick De Waal and Shane Reynolds lead the Allcomers class, from the Mitsubishi Evo 9 of Jason Gill and co-driver Duncan McKenzie who are fourth overall.
Second placed Martin Dippie and Jona Grant lead Class 6, third placed Steven Kirk-Burnnand and Mike Hay Class 7 and fifth placed Clark Proctor and co-driver Sue O’Neill lead Class 9 in Proctor’s Nissan R35 GT-R.
A little further down the order (14th) Mark and father Chris Kirk-Burnnand from Wellington are the top placed pair in the Classic 2WD class (Class 2) in their E30 model BMW M3. Other vehicles entered include a much-modified Land Rover-based Bowler Tomcat off-roader and a 1950s Chevrolet Bel Air utility.
Tomorrow (Saturday’s) route is similar to last year’s (with three stages north-west of Hastings in the morning and three south of Havelock North in the afternoon) and again incorporates a stand-alone Rally of Hawke’s Bay event-within-and-event orgnaised in conjunction with the local car club.
Sunday, meanwhile, sees competitors head south into the Central Hawkes Bay and Tararua Districts before a ceremonial finish back in Havelock North.
All-up there are 19 closed road special stages covering a total 459.95 km linked by 730km touring stages
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Targa New Zealand events are organised by the Ultimate Rally Group with the support of sponsors AndrewSimms.co.nz, Chicane Racewear, Global Security, HW Richardson Group, Invercargill Licensing Trust, NZ Classic Car magazine, Race Brakes, Race4Life Trust, Racetech, TeamTalk, TrackIt, and Writeraze.
For more information go to www.targa.co.nz or check out the Targa NZ page on Facebook.
Results – Day 1 – Overall
1. Nic De Waal/Shane Reynolds (Subaru WRX Sti)1:06:15.4
2. Martin Dippie/Jona Grant (Porsche GT3 RS) 1:06:37.3 (+21.9)
3. Steven Kirk-Burnnand/Mike Hay (BMW 318ti) 1:07:01.5 (+46.1)
4. Jason Gill/Mark Robinson (Mitsubishi Evo 9) 1:08:07.0 (+1:51.6)
5. Clark Proctor/Sue O’Neill (Nissan R35 GT-R) 1:08:36.6 (+2:21.2)
6. Ivan Knauf/Trevor Corbin (Subaru WRX) 1:09:05.6 (+2:50.2)
7. David Rogers/Aidan Kelly (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 10) 1:09:10.5 (+2:55.1)
8. Mike Tubbs/Mike Vincent (BMW 325i Coupe) 1:09:20.5 (+3:05.1)
9. Robert Darrington/David Abetz (BMW E36 M3) 1:09:45.1 (+3:29.7)
10. Tom & Ben Grooten (Toyota Startlet KP61) 1:09:45.9 (+3:30.5)
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