It’s been a busy day for the Maximum Motorsports crew with a shakedown session at Symonds Plains raceway, preparation for tomorrows Prologue of Targa Tasmania 2010.
Running four cars this year, the West Australian team have returned to Tasmania with three 2008-spec Subaru WRX STi rally cars, for Dean Herridge, Graham Iddles and Brian Green, and a 2005-spec WRX STi for Perth doctor Graham Furness.
Lead driver Dean Herridge will start his fourth Targa, determined to make amends for last year when a gamble on soft tyres didn’t pay off. “It’s been a really good shakedown this morning”, a smiling Dean said. “The car feels great. We ran on old rubber this morning, just to ensure reduce the amount of kilometres on the race tyres. So it’s not exactly what we’ll start with tomorrow. But the car has run perfectly, and we’re giving ourselves the best chance of not only winning Targa, but also of taking the Australian Tarmac Championship title”.
Along with Dean, the 16-person Maximum crew is also running cars for regulars Graham Furness and Graham Iddles. “It’s good to be back in the car”, said eye surgeon Graham Furness after his shakedown session. “Cameron (Furness) and I are back in the car. We competed together for the first time at last years Targa, and we’ve done Targa West and Targa Wrest Point in January. So this is our fourth event together, and we’ve improved as a team with each event. We’ve have some transmission changes to the car since Wrest Point, so we’re out to improve on last year’s result”.
Also looking to improve this year is Perth businessman Graham Iddles. “One of the things Shane (Cary) and I have been working on is our braking. We’re becoming more confident in the car, and although we’ll still err on the side of caution, we really want to improve on our performance and make to the end of the event. The car has had some upgrades, particularly to the engine, and we’re now running very similar setup to Dean. So we’ve got the car; we now need to make the most of it”.
Joining the Maximum team this year is APRC regular Brian Green and Fleur Pedersen. The Kiwi duo have already run events in Finland, Sweden, China and New Zealand this year, but this is their first time in Tasmania. And along with their debut, they’ll also debut a brand-new Subaru WRX STi 2.5L tarmac rally car. “It’s been going really well this morning”, the Kiwi veteran said. “The car is certainly quicker than I expected! It’s a different feeling to the EVO 9 I normally compete in. It turns in faster, and it stops really well. I think if it rains, it will be to our advantage. But it’s our first time here and the goal is to finish and not ‘bend’ the car”.
Tomorrow the 260-strong field heads out to Georgetown, at the mouth of the River Tamar, for the Prologue. This short blast through the town determines the starting order for the rest of the event, with the fastest car running last on the road. And on Wednesday Targa Tasmania 2010 kicks off with the first competitive stages, with loop east from Launceston to Lilydale, then heading west to Sheffield for a total of eight stages.
