True to form it was event favourite Cam Ross from Wellington and his Tauranga-based co-driver Matthew Buer (Subaru Impreza WRX STi hatchback) who enjoyed a healthy 46.3 second lead over fellow Unlimited 4WD class front runners David Rogers from Auckland and his co-driver Shane Reynolds from Temuka (Mitsubishi Evo 10 RS) at the end of the first day of competition of the new two-day Targa South Island tarmac motor rally event in the Nelson/Tasman region last night.
Targa South Island 2022 is a two-day (Sat Oct 15 to Sun Oct 16) event comprising of 7 closed road special stages per day (for a total of 237.73km) and 353.63km of touring in-between.
Both contemporary 4WD came under intense time pressure from the purpose-built tarmac-spec 2WD 4-rotor powered Mazda RX8 of Marcus van Klink and his co-driver Matt Richards.
Unfortunately van Klink was forced to retire the car thanks to a persistent engine misfire.
Having no such issues with his recently acquired, new build , MK 2 Ford Escort BDA ’tarmac car’, however, was Christchurch man Tim McIvor and co-driver Brent Wilson who simply got better and better as their day went on, eventually finishing third overall and first 2WD car home last night.
The best performance from a local crew meanwhile, came from Nelson man Bruce Farley and co-driver Glen Warner who ended up in 6th place overall in Farley’s hard-driven Classic 2WD class-leading BMW 325i.
A further 20 crews lining up to contest the Nelson One Day Tarmac Rally, an event-within-an-event doubling as a round of the 2022 Mainland Rally Championship.
It was won by the Subaru H6 of James MacDonald and co-driver Daniel Johnson, from the Toyota Corolla Trueno of Deane Buist and co-driver James Cowles, with the Subaru Impreza WRX of Sean and Bella Haggerty third.
Leading the way, meanwhile, at the half-way point of the Vintage Car Club of NZ (VCCNZ) Targa Time Trial was the 1953 Jaguar XK120 ‘C’ type of Stephen Aldersley and co-driver Glen Wedlake from the MG ‘C’ Sebring of Mike and Mary Fitzgerald and the 1964 Mk 2 Jaguar of William and Leo Noordanus.
2022 Targa South Island Day 1 Results:
| Position | Driver | Co-driver | Car | Time |
| 1 | Cameron Ross | Matthew Buer | Subaru Impreza WRX STi | 45:27.3 |
| 2 | David Rogers | Shane Reynolds | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo RS 10 | 46:13.6 |
| 3 | Tim McIver | Brent Wilson | Ford Escort BDA | 46:39.9 |
| 4 | Mike Tubbs | Richard Scoular | BMW M2 | 46:53.3 |
| 5 | Brian Green | Fleur Pedersen | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10 | 47:33.0 |
| 6 | Bruce Farley | Glen Warner | BMW 325i | 47:42.9 |
| 7 | Steven Blackley | Sean Blackley | Ford Escort | 50:15.7 |
| 8 | Matt Dellit | Matt Sayers | Mazda RX7 S1 | 50:42.5 |
| 9 | John Hancock | Conrad Hancock | Audi RS4 | 51:34.3 |
| 10 | Harry Dodson | Mark Storey | BMW M3 | 51:54.7 |
Main image: Fast Company/Graham Hughes for ProShotz
