And that caused all sorts of problems for crews, with a number of accidents in the treacherous conditions.
Three of the four Maximum Motorsport crews survived the wild weather, but there were some ‘interesting’ moments along the way. At the end of todays stages, Dean Herridge was the fastest of the Maximum Subarus, sharing equal fifth place and 50 seconds from leader Jason White.
“Given the circumstances, it’s been a reasonable day for us”, Dean explained. “It was wet all day; I think SS5 was the only stage where it didn’t rain. We’re on hard compound tyres, and the conditions just didn’t suit us. We struggled all day, but the main thing is we’re still in the event. We lost a lot of competitive crews today; Kevin Weeks, the Vandenbergs and Tony Sullens are all out. So to have just made it to the end of the day, and be not too far away from the lead, is not too bad of an effort”.
Like Dean, both Graham Furness and Graham Iddles found the conditions testing, but drivers put in solid results to sit 24th and 32nd respectively. “It was a day to be sensible”, Iddles explained. “It would have been easy to loose the car today. There were some sections where the rain was really heavy. So we had to play it safe, slow down, and get to the end of the stages. Which is easier said than done!”
The one sour note was an accident involving Brian Green’s 2.5L WRX STi. The Kiwi hit a post after under-steering off the road on SS4. The impact caused some bodywork damage, but critically a water pipe was split which forced Green and co-driver Fleur Pedersen to stop on the stage. The damage done to the engine was significant, and will force them to sit out the Leg 2 while repairs are made.
Thursday’s ‘North-East Loop’ begins early, with crews heading toward St Helens, on the Tasmanian east coast. Leg 2 takes in six competitive stages, the first being the tricky and twisty ‘Sideling’ stage.
Targa Tasmania 2010 – Leg 1
1 – White / White, Lambourghini Gallardo
2 – Glenney / Webb, Mazda RX-8 SP, +0:09
3 – Quinn / Tilett, Nissan GT-R, +0:30
4 – Jones / Searcy, Nissan GT-R, +0:32
5 – Herridge / Weston, Subaru Impreza WRX STi, +0:50
5 – Vandersee / Reeves, Skelta G-Force, +0:50
7 – Close / Close, Audi TTRS, +1:08
8 – Richards / Oliver, Porsche 911 GT-3, +1:10
9 – Alford / Farmer, Nissan GT-R, +1:25
24 – Furness / Furness, Subaru Impreza WRX STi, +2:45
38 – Iddles / Cary, Subaru Impreza WRX STi, +4:20
