At the conclusion of day 1, it was the Dave Rogers/Shane Reynolds pairing that led the pack with a 14-second lead over second-placed Paul Dowie and his co-driver John Allen, who are driving a Porsche GT3RS.
Rogers’s lead was almost lost when, on stage two, they were caught out on cold tyres and “took a massive slide down to the intersection on shiny tar,” as Reynolds commented. Dowie is also leading the Modern 2WD class.
The first stage was won by the Ultima RS, driven by Craig Haysman with Jason Page as his co-driver, while Mike Tubbs and Matt Bailey finished 12 seconds off the pace in the BMW M2.
Previous event winner Marcus van Klink and Matt Richards’ RX7 encountered trouble when the stepper motor failed. This forced their temporary withdrawal until stage four, where they rejoined, having sorted the issue, although well down in the placings.
There were five different stage winners, including van Klink, who won stage six. They have since had to retire from the Targa.
In the classic 2WD class, the Mercedes 190E 2.3-16 of Mark McCaughan and his co-driver Lindsay Lyons finished the day 1 minute 35 seconds ahead of Bevan Claridge and co-driver Campbell Tannock.
Throughout the day, the Holden Commodore of Claridge and the Mercedes of McCaughan had been closely matched for times until on stage 6, when the Holden lost over 1 minute to the Mercedes. Steven Blackley and Daniel Newton sit third in this class at the day’s end.
Drift ace Cam Vernon made a guest appearance with his Skyline, doing drifting demonstration runs in between the Time Trial cars, and the Tour cars started their run. He will be for the remainder of the week until Saturday.
There were sporadic showers throughout the day, making it difficult to choose the right tyre for both wet and dry conditions.
Some of the roads had also been subject to heavy rain in the days leading up to the Targa, making them somewhat challenging in places with gravel and waterflow still on them.
The effects of the storms have been more profound as we head into tomorrow and towards New Plymouth, with the final four stages having had to be cancelled due to slips and flooding.
Header Image: Geoff Ridder
