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Team VIP Petfoods chief Tony Quinn called on all his experience to achieve an outright fifth placing today, mastering a historic completion of the second leg of Targa
Tasmania which included Austraila's first ever tarmac rally night stage.
Placing solidly in the top five, Quinn made all the right moves throughout today to further elevate himself up the timesheets, surpassing his own expectations for the leg.
"Overall today was good for us, and to hear we are in the top five is pleasantly suprising," said Quinn.
"The night stage for us was fine, it is great for the spectators of course and is a credit to the organisers of Targa Tasmania.
"Coming into today we were concerned about stages such as The Sideling which is tighter than what the car usually likes, so we were pleased when it handled the stage so well and went on to have what has turned out to be a strong day.
With today's stages run and won, Quinn and Wenn are in the mix for the lead heading into tomorrow's leg three.
"Tomorrow is yet another day, and it is a day with lots of tricky stages and teams looking to cement their positions ahead of the big run up and back down the island," said Quinn.
"The weekend is where the real racing is going to happen so we are looking towards that and hoping to be in a good position come Saturday.
"To be honest our car is alot heavier than the ones in front of us, but we're not going to let that phase us and just put our heads down and get to it, there is still a long way to go before this is over."
Tomorrow's Southern Loop will see the pair travel from Hobart through Grasstree Hill Reserve, Tunnel Hill, Howden, Snug, Oyster Cove, Cygnet Short, Longley and Ridgeway Park on their way back to Hobart.
Targa Tasmania is considered one of the toughest races of its kind where vehicles are this year required to cover more than 2000 kilometres, including 450 competition kilometres over 42 stages.
This years' Targa Tasmania is Quinn's eighth and the first in a long line of rally exploits to come for his team this year, with up to eight rally ventures on the cards including the prestigious Nurburgring 24 hour in which the team placed ninth on debut in 2006.
Targa Tasmania Results to date:
Tuesday 17th April, 2007 – Day One – Temco George Town Prologue – Top Ten
1. #913 – Close/Close – 2001 Porsche 911 Turbo - 03:15.34
2. #902 – Simonsen/Searcy – 2006 Mitsubishi Evolution Lancer IX - 03:15.95
3. #919 – Richards/Oliver – 2007 Porsche 911 GT3 RS - 03:17.76
4. #953 – Heskin/Deniese – 2006 Mitsubishi Evolution Lancer IX RS - 03:18.39
5. #991 – Weeks/Allen – 2006 Lamborghini Super Leggera - 03:18.47
6. #940 – Higgins/Hansen – 2006 Mitsubishi Evolution Lancer IX RS - 03:18.55
7. #939 – Warwick/Murphy – 2003 Porsche 991 GT3 - 03:18.95
8. #996 – Quinn/Wenn – 2006 Porsche 997 Turbo (Team VIP Petfoods) - 03:19.19
9. #934 - White/White - Lamborghini Super Leggera - 03:19.42
10. #972 - Vandersee/Taylor - Skelta G-Force - 03:20.28
Wednesday 18th April, 2007 – Day Two – The Northern Loop (Launceston to Launceston) – Top Ten
1. #902 – Simonsen/Searcy – Mitsubishi Evolution Lancer IX – 8 sec
2. #934 – White/White – Lamborghini Super Leggera – 18 sec
3. #918 – Sullens/Barkley – Subaru Impreza WRX RA – 32 sec
4. #919 – Richards/Oliver – Porsche 911 GT3 RS – 38 sec
5. #991 – Weeks/Allen – Lamborghini Super Leggera – 1 min 9 sec
6. #922 – Longhurst/De Vere – Subaru Impreza WRX STi C Spec – 1 min 12 sec
7. #996 – Quinn/Wenn – Porsche 997 Turbo – 1 min 19 sec (Team VIP Petfoods)
8. #939 – Warwick/Murphy – Porsche 911 GT3 – 1 min 23 sec
9. #903 – Rattray/Jackson – Subaru Impreza WRX STi – 1 min 31 sec
10. #913 – Close/Close – Porsche 911 Turbo - 1 min 42 sec
Thursday 19th April 2007 – Day Three – The Eastern Trundle (Launceston to Hobart)
1. #918 – Sullens/Barkley – Subaru Impreza WRX RA
2. #919 – Richards/Oliver – Porsche 911 GT3 RS - + 6 seconds
3. #922 – Longhurst/De Vere – Subaru Impreza WRX STi C Spec - + 27 seconds
4. #991 – Weeks/Allen – Lamborghini Super Leggera - + 47 seconds
5. #996 – Quinn/Wenn – Porsche 997 Turbo (Team VIP Petfoods) - + 1 min 5 seconds
6. #939 – Warwick/Murphy – Porsche 911 GT3
7. #913 – Close/Close – Porsche 911 Turbo
8. #953 – Heskin/Deniese – 2006 Mitsubishi Evolution Lancer IX RS
9. #940 – Higgins/Hansen – 2006 Mitsubishi Evolution Lancer IX RS
10. #954 - Froude/Logan - Porsche 911 GT3 CS
Stages to come:
Friday 20th April, 2007 – Day Four – The Southern Loop (Hobart to Hobart)
Stage 19 – Grasstree Hill Reserve – 8.35km
Stage 20 – Tunnel Hill – 3.30km
Stage 21 – Bonnet Hill – 3.45km
Stage 22 – Howden – 7.20km
Lunchbreak – Snug
Stage 23 – Oyster Cove – 12.02km
Stage 24 – Cygnet Short – 9.90km
Stage 25 – Longley – 11.90km
Stage 26 – Ridgeway Park – 3.93km
Leg three total distance – 210.70km
Competitive kilometers – 60.05km
Saturday 21st April 2007 – Day Five – The North West Challenge (Hobart to Burnie)
Stage 27 – Colebrook – 5.34km
Stage 28 – Ross – 2.78km
Stage 29 – Longford – 2.86km
Stage 30 – Mole Creek Long – 4.40km
Lunchbreak – Mole Creek
Stage 31 – Cethana – 37.48km
Stage 32 – Gunns Plains – 14.68km
Stage 33 – South Riana – 24.48km
Stage 34 – Natone – 9.77km
Stage 35 – Fern Glade – 3.98km
Leg four total distance – 470.86km
Competitive kilometers – 105.77km
Sunday 22nd April 2007 – Day Six – The West Coast Enduro (Burnie to Hobart)
Stage 36 – Hellyer Gorge – 15.42km
Stage 37 – Mount Black – 8.62km
Stage 38 – Roseberry – 17.42km
Stage 39 – Strahan – 33.24km
Lunchbreak – Queenstown
Stage 40 – Queenstown – 6.39km
Stage 41 – Mt Arrowsmith – 47.24km
Stage 42 – Tarraleah – 6.60km
Leg five total distance – 513.39km
Competitive kilometers – 134.93km
Total Event Distance Covered – 2100.71km
Total Event Competitive Distance – 444.84km
Upcoming Team VIP Petfoods events:
April 17-22: Targa Tasmania
May 12-13: Lake Mountain Sprint
May 18-20: Round 2 – Carrera Cup - Winton
June 2-3: Queensland 500
June 7-10: 24 Hour Race - Nurburgring 24 Hour
June 9-11: Round 4 – Aussie Racing Cars - Eastern Creek
June 22-24: Round 3 – Carrera Cup - Sky City Challenge
July 4-8: Suncoast Rally, Queensland
J! uly 7-8: Round 3 - Drift Australia Series - Eastern Creek
July 20-22: Round 4 – Carrera Cup - Queensland Raceway
August 11-12: Round 4 - Drift Australia Series - Queensland Raceway
August 17-19: Round 5 - Carrera Cup, Aussie Racing Cars - Oran Park
August 24 – September 1: Australian Safari, Western Australia
September 7-9: Targa West
September 14-16: Round 6 – Carrera Cup - Sandown 500
September 22-23: Round 5 - Drift Australia Series - Oran Park
October 4-7: Round 7 – Carrera Cup, Round 6 – Aussie Racing Cars - Super Cheap Auto 1000
October 18-21: Round 8 – Carrera Cup, Round 7 – Aussie Racing Cars - Lexmark Indy 300
October 22-27: Dunlop Targa New Zealand
November 3-5: Mt Buller Sprint
December 1-2: Round 8 – Aussie Racing Cars – Baskerville
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