Fresh from his Chinese Rally Championship victory at Rally China in Longyou, Dean Herridge has announced he and the Maximum Motorsport team will contest December’s Mt Buller Sprint, the first event of the 2010 Australian Tarmac Championship.

With the new championship encompassing Targa Tasmania and Targa Wrest Point, the decision to contest the title was an easy one. “We’re already planning to run at ‘Wrest Point’ and ‘Targa Tas’ in 2010″, said Dean. “So it makes a lot of sense to add Mt Buller to the calendar and give ourselves a chance of taking the overall title”.

The Tarmac Championship, which has been recently created, takes in the Mt Buller Sprint, Targa Wrest Point in January, the Lake Mountain Sprint in March, and culminates with Targa Tasmania at the end of April.

“Mt Buller was actually the first tarmac event I ever contested. That was back in ’06 with Subaru Australia, and we managed to grab third behind Jim Richards and Tony Quinn. So we’ve got some experience there. I’m really excited to return to Mt Buller. The competition is tough in all the Targa events, and it’s not going to be easy to win. That said, we’re going to give it our best shot, and give ourselves the best possible chance to win the championship”.

The Mt Buller Sprint begins on Friday 4th of December, with the final run over the 16km, 130+ corner, stage completing on Sunday 6th.

2010 Australian Tarmac Championship

Round 1: Mt. Buller Sprint – December 4 to 6 , 2009
Round 2: Targa Wrest Point – January 30 & 31, 2010
Round 3: Lake Mountain Sprint – March 20 & 21, 2010
Round 4: Targa Tasmania – April 27 to May 2, 2010

Targa West 2009 photos courtesy of Chris Parker.