Advertisment

Sport

13 September, 2021

Locals support Targa rally

THE roads and streets of the Tablelands and Cairns were alive with the sounds of screaming engines, squealing tires and backfires as Targa Great Barrier Reef was held recently.

By Rhys Thomas

Engligh was excited with his performance during the rally
Engligh was excited with his performance during the rally

THE roads and streets of the Tablelands and Cairns were alive with the sounds of screaming engines, squealing tires and backfires as Targa Great Barrier Reef was held recently.

Among the competitors there were several locals who had gotten behind the driver’s seat and put the pedal to the medal, securing podium finishes. 

Tom English of Malanda and his Holden HR Ute ended up coming second in the Thoroughbred Trophy category with an overall time of 39:50, just under five minutes behind first place. 

“It was very unexpected, but we feel great, it was awesome,” Tom said. 

“We had a few issues with the car over the weekend but nothing that pulled us up completely.

“We had a great weekend.” 

Claire and Paul Buccini are past residents of Mareeba that currently live in Brisbane, they regularly travel up to North Queensland and to other states for Targa. 

This year, they managed to secure first place with a time of 28:01 in the Early Modern 2 category on their first ever attempt, something that surprised them both.

“We didn’t expect to place first, we knew there wasn’t many in the category, but it was our first time in that category,” Mrs Buccini said. 

“It was a bit of a pleasant surprise to actually come first... the weather was a bit poor, and we drove really conservatively on one of the Saturday afternoon stages. 

“We ran that same stage on Sunday and took two minutes off our time from the previous day, which is huge.” 

During an intense and fast paced race like Targa there is sure to be some breakdowns, Andrew Horn of Kuranda was one of these victims, due to this he was unable to finish the race.

Advertisment

Most Popular

1