AMTC

The Forklift Power Solutions all-female team of Samantha Stevens and Claire Ryan has claimed the Early Modern title in the Australian Tarmac Championship with an impressive result in the final round at Targa Tasmania last week.

One of the toughest road challenges in the world, the Targa Tasmania tarmac rally, covers 2000km of twisting tarmac with over a quarter of that distance as competitive kilometres. Of the 260 cars that started the six-day rally, many fell victim to mechanical and human error, and 56 cars did not make the official finish in that Tasmanian capital of Hobart.

Supaloc Racing confirmed today that reining SA Tarmac Rally Champions, Andrew Burnard and Brian Virgo together with Kevin Weeks and John Allen will both be entering this years asp / Cut Price Adelaide Hills Tarmac Rally to be held on roads in the Fleurieu Peninsula region in South Australia later this month.

It was a bittersweet day for team Mazda Motorsport on leg three of Targa Tasmania with the RX-8 SP of Steve Glenney forced out of the event after colliding with a competitor who had unexpectedly stopped on the fifth stage of the day, Mt Roland.

The Nissan GT-R of Tasmanian David Ayers had stopped to offer assistance to fellow local Simon Froude whose Porsche had left the road due to an oil spill. The RX-8 SP of Glenney was travelling at a race-leading pace when faced with the stopped GT-R.

The leading female team in this year's Targa Tasmania tarmac rally has received a last-minute lifeline from forklift battery manufacturer Century Yuasa, allowing the girls to fight for the Early Modern win in this year's inaugural Australian Tarmac Championship.

Samantha Stevens, a motoring journalist from Sydney NSW, and her navigator Claire Ryan, an ICU nurse from South Australia, currently sit 13th outright and second in Early Modern in the championship going into the fourth and final round in the infamous Targa Tasmania road rally this week.