“We’re not completely certain what happened, but it’s likely we’ve thrown a rod. We won’t know for sure until we get the car back to Perth. It was going great but then the engine let go without warning”, explained Dean Herridge at the end of a long day. “Over the years we’ve not had too many problems like this. But we run these engines under a fair bit of stress, so you have to expect things like this from time-to-time. Both Graham and John are going well, so we’ll now concentrate on helping them to get the best result we can.”

Meanwhile, the other Maximum cars has trouble-free runs today. In the 4WD Showroom class John O’Dowd maintained his 5th place, while Graham Iddles moved the #985 Seibon Carbon Subaru up into 18th place.

Tomorrow the crews head out on the long journey to Strahan, on the Tasmanian west coast. A day earlier than on previous years, leg 3 includes the fast Cethana stage, the tricky Hellyer Gorge, and concludes with the long Rinadeena stage in Strahan.

Targa Tasmania 2012 – Leg 1

1. Jason White / John White, 2011 Lamborghini Gallardo, 8m36s
2. Tony Quinn / Naomi Tillett, 2009 Nissan GTR, +48s
3. Matt Close / Casey Close, 2010 Audi TT RS, +1m00s
4. Brendan Reeves / Rhianon Smyth, 2010 Mazda RX8 SP, +1m56s
5. Matt Sims / Dennis Sims, 2009 Nissan GTR, +2m06s

Photos courtesy of Perfect Pictures and Targa Tasmania – www.targatasmania.com.au

The first two stages were relatively easy runs, with almost all the crews completing them within the target time and, therefore, not incurring any penalty time. It was from TS3, Merseylea, that the real competition began and, as expected, the Lamborghini of Jason White and the Nissan GT-R of Tony Quinn resumed their battle for the lead, Jason White taking first day honours by 13 seconds.

Behind them Dean Herridge in the Maximum Motorsport WRX STI maintained a consistant pace to complete the day in 4th outright, sandwiched between the Mazda of Brendan Reeves and Jim Richards Porsche 911.

“We’re actually a little surprised to be 4th”, commented Dean on the way back to Launceston. “Some of the guys around us has minor problems today, and we just tried to run at our own pace. We’re working to our own strategy for the event. There’s a long way to go until Hobart and we want to play to our strengths and not get caught up trying to beat anyone at this stage of the event. So to be 4th, almost 3rd, is a bonus”.

Tomorrow the crews head off on the long and tricky ‘eastern loop’, taking in iconic stages such as Elephant Pass, The Sideling and the Longford town stage.

Of interest will be the notoriously fickle Tasmanian weather. “We’re expecting to see rain over the next few days. The second last stage today was fairly heavy, and we’ll possibly see some fairly heavy rain tomorrow. As we saw last year, the rain can be a huge test. I don’t really like the rain more than anyone else, but maybe we cope a little better. All of the leading crews are running 4WD cars, so we’ll need to push on and hopefully have a clear run tomorrow.”

Targa Tasmania 2012 – Leg 1

1. Jason White / John White, 2011 Lamborghini Gallardo, 1:44
2. Tony Quinn / Naomi Tillett, 2009 Nissan GTR, +13s
3. Brendan Reeves / Rhianon Smyth, 2010 Mazda RX8 SP, +48s
4. Dean Herridge / Ben Searcy, 2008 Subaru WRX STI, +50s
5. Jim Richards / Barry Oliver, 2011 Porsche 911 GT2 RS, +59s

Photos courtesy of Jarrod Leonard – Angryman Photography.

And the 21st running of Targa Tasmania sees the return of Maximum Motorsports to tarmac rallying, after missing both Targa High Country and Targa Wrest Point. “It’s great to be back for Targa, flying the flag for Subaru”, offered an up-beatt Dean Herridge. “We competed at the Bathurst 12 Hour earlier in the year, and we’ve been busy with with the West Australian Rally Championship, but this is our first tarmac rally event for 2012. Missing ‘High Country’ and ‘Wrest Point’ makes it almost impossible to defend our 2011 Championship title. But we finished 2nd here last year, and with the right weather conditions, we’ll be pushing the Lamborghinis, Posches and Nissan GT-Rs for the win.”

Along with Dean and co-driver Ben Searcy, the Maximum team includes Graham Iddles and Shane Cary in their 2.0L Subaru WRX STI and John O’Dowd and John McCarthy in the 2.5L WRX STI Bathurst 12 Hour car. “I’ve had my eyes on this car since Brian Green drove it in 2010″, commented O’Dowd. “I regularly drive Dean’s ex-SRTA WRX in the West Australian rally championship, and I’ve used Graham’s car at Targa West for the last two years. This is my first time using the 2.5L car at Targa, but I’ve done a lot of laps around Bathurst in the car, and I’ve known the team for years. So I’m pretty comfortable stepping into the car for Targa.”

Meanwhile, Graham Iddles has re-painted his car in the red and black colours of major sponsor Seibon Carbon. “The car looks awesome in the new colours!”, exclaimed Graham. “With Maximum now appointed the Australian distributor of Seibon Carbon components, it was a perfect fit to have them as major sponsor. I’m also running a Seibon dry carbon bonnet and Seibon wet carbon rear wing. So the car is lighter, giving me an extra edge for the ‘Longford Challenge’ on Thursday.”

Todays Prologue, which determines the starting position for the rest of the event, saw the Lamborghini of Jason White quickest over the 5km course, with Dean 4th fastest. “That’s a pretty good position for us. There’s a little bit if strategy that goes into the Prologue. We were third quickest over Lilydale earlier this morning, so we’ll start 3rd last on the road tomorrow, which is roughly where we want to be.”

Wednesday sees Leg 1 of Targa 2012 begin with ‘northern loop’, taking in stages such as Holwell, Moriaty and Quamby Brook.

Targa Tasmania 2012 – Leg 0

1. Tony Quinn / Naomi Tillett, 2009 Nissan GTR, 5m30.89s
2. Jason White / John White, 2011 Lamborghini Gallardo, +2.16s
3. Dean Herridge / Ben Searcy, 2008 Subaru WRX STI, +15.22s
4. Brendan Reeves / Rhianon Smyth, 2010 Mazda RX8 SP, +22.19s
5. Jim Richards / Barry Oliver, 2011 Porsche 911 GT2 RS, +24.80s

Photos courtesy of Jarrod Leonard – Angryman Photography.

However late-race turbo problems cost the Subaru WRX STI an agonising 45 minutes in the pits. Although the team fixed the problem and completed the event for a Class D 2nd place, there were not enough laps to make up the time lost.

“It’s been an incredible day!”, remarked Dean Herridge at the end of the grueling 12 hour enduro. “The pace was fast early on and we managed to work our way up into the top 10. Unfortunately the oil pipe which feeds the turbo cracked, which caused the turbo to blow when we had a handy lead in the category. The boys did a great job to replace both the turbo and the pipe, and get us back in the race. But we lost a heap of time.”

The variable conditions at Mt Panorama played havoc with the field. After a dry start, heavy rain began to fall at the top of the circuit, leading to series of safety car periods. It was during this phase of the race that the Subaru’s AWD advantage came to the fore. “When the rain came, it really made the track very tricky. Some parts of the track had a dry line, but at the top of mountain the rain and mist was very heavy. It made life difficult for everyone, but the Subaru was perfect in the conditions. While everyone else was losing time, we were able to move forward through the field.”

“So it’s been a little disappointing to be the leading production car for much of the 12 hours, and then falter with only a couple of hours to run. The car has run perfectly all week, and this was the only real problem we’ve had. But, compared to last year, we’ve made huge leaps forward. Twelfth outright is a great result for our team. John O’Dowd and Angus Kennard both did a fantastic job in really difficult conditions today. The team did a great job preparing and running the car.”

So it’s great to finish the race with a podium, and our overall performance provides a lot of encouragement for next year.”

The race was won by the Audi R8 of Mies/O’Young/Joens, a lap ahead of the Mercedes SLS of Slade/Bleekemolen. A three hour highlights package will air on Foxtel’s Speed Channel on Saturday the 24th of March, and you can find photos of the event in the photo gallery.

This year’s ’12 Hour’ is set to be bigger and tougher than ever, attracting more international entries keen to beat the locals at Australia’s spiritual home of motorsport.

2011 was Maximum’s debut at ‘The Mountain’ and it was a difficult introduction to endurance production car racing. “I think you’d call it ’character building’”, quipped Maximum’s Dean Herridge. “We approached the race with a reasonable degree of confidence and as our race pace proved we were very competitive in the Production Category.”

“But early into the race a problem developed within the racing fuel cell fitted specially for the event. The car was dropping fuel pressure. Once we worked out where the problem was, and that we couldn’t fix it on the run, all we could do was rig up a temporary fuel pick-up system and use the race to give our drivers experience. I think we won the award for ‘most use of the pit lane’!”.

For 2012 Maximum returns with the same Subaru 2.5L WRX STI, the same driver line-up (Dean, John O’Dowd and Angus Kennard), but a lot more experience. “I think the lessons learned in 2011 will hold us in good stead for this year’s race. It will be our first event for the year, and we’re all really keen for a successful, trouble free weekend”.

The Bathurst 12 Hour is held over the weekend of February 24-26. Spectator and ticketing details can be found at bathurst12hour.com.au, and the final 90 minutes of the event will be televised live on Speed Australia at approximately 4:45pm on Sunday, February 26th.

And head over to www.maximummotorsport.com.au/videos to check out Maximum’s 2011 Bathurst experience.

“It’s been our aim for two years to win the championship”, Dean told the assembled media at the Hobart finish line. “And we thought we’d be a chance in that, but it’s sometimes hard to have our little Subaru battling against the Lambos and the GT-Rs. We thought a concentrated effort on something like the championship would be something that would be achievable.”

After moving into second place on Saturday, Dean was happy to consolidate his position and ensure he and the Maximum Motorsport Subaru WRX STI took the championship title. “Overnight we decided we were happy with second, which is a good solid result, and today’s been all about conserving our spot, and the last 24 hours it’s been all about getting it home and winning the championship.”

The event was won by Tony Quinn in a Nissan GT-R, Matthew Sims took third place in another GT-R, and second place is Dean’s best ever result at Targa Tasmania. “It’s still a thrill to win a championship, and I’m very proud to be second in what was arguably the most competitive Targa field that has ever been assembled”.

Targa Tasmania 2011 – Final Results

1. Quinn/Tillet, Nissan GT-R
2. Herridge/Searcy, Subaru WRX STI, +3:39
3. Sims/Sims, Nissan GT-R, +5:37
4. Sullens/Barkley, Subaru WRX STI, +6:52
5. Vandenberg/Vandenberg, Mazda RX-8 SP, +6:54
21. Iddles/Cary, Subaru WRX STI, +27:55

Photos courtesy of Targa Tasmania.

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Heavy rain had been predicated for the weekend, and it arrived on time. And while other crews run off the road or ran out of luck, Dean Herridge and the Maximum Motorsport WRX STi revelled in the conditions.

Starting the day in fourth place, Herridge moved up to second place and into a good position to win the Australian Tarmac Championship. “It’s been pretty difficult actually”, commented Dean at the end of a long day of rallying. “We’ve had a good run through today, but we’re just trying to keep it smooth. One of the difficulties has been the water just running across the roads, so it’s been unbelievably hard conditions with the rain.”

Starting with the famous Riana stage, Herridge put in a series for fastest stage times during the afternoon rain to move past Matthew Sims into third, and then Matt Close for second place.

At the front, Tony Quinn continues to lead, and even extended his lead during the day.

Tommorow is the final day of Targa Tasmania 2011. The spectacular ‘Strahan’ stage opens the day, then ‘Queenstown’ and the 58km ‘Mt Arrowsmith’ stage, before the crews head toward Hobart for another three stages and the finish line.

Targa Tasmania 2011 – Leg 4 Results (Unofficial)

1. Quinn/Tillet, Nissan GT-R
2. Herridge/Searcy, Subaru WRX STI, +2.55
3. Sims/Sims, Nissan GT-R, +4.30
4. Sullens/Barkley, Subaru WRX STI, +6.52
5. Evan/Feaver, Lancer EVO X, +7:03

Photos courtesy of Targa Tasmania.

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Today the crews rallied on stages to the north-west of Launceston, including the long and tricky Mt Roland and Paloona stages. And the day again provided plenty of drama. The series defending champion Jason White decided to continue, even though the 20 minute plenty he incurred yesterday effectively ended any chance of winning the event. But while one Lamborghini continued, another retired. Kevin Weeks was still in the hunt for victory when gearbox failure forced his retirement.

That leaves Tony Quinn in the lead with a comfortable margin. But behind him there is a great battle brewing between Matt Close in the Audi TTRS and Dean Herridge in the Maximum Motorsport Subaru WRX STI.

With Jason White still 18 minutes off the lead, the series title looks to be a fight between Herridge (currently on 420 points) and Close (400 points). At the end of the days seven stages, Close managed to jump up to second outright and 27 seconds clear of fourth-placed Herridge.

But tomorrow is the start of the critical final two days of Targa Tasmania. The teams will pack up and travel from Launceston to Strahan on the west coast, and then head east on Sunday to the finish line in Hobart. The final two days feature the long and testing Hellyer Gorge and Queenstown stages, and with rain predicated there is every chance the leaderboard will be rearranged.

Targa Tasmania 2011 – Leg 3 Results (Unofficial)

1. Quinn/Tillet, Nissan GT-R
2. Close/Close, Audi TTRS, +2.01
3. Sims/Sims, Nissan GT-R, +2.09
4. Herridge/Searcy, Subaru WRX STI, +2.28
5. Evan/Feaver, Lancer EVO X, +3.51
27. Iddles/Cary, Subaru WRX STI, +13.02

Photos courtesy of Angryman Photography.

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White ran over a rock on The Sideling stage this morning which extensive damage to the underside of his Lamborghini Gallado. He subsequently incurred a 20 minute penalty when he ran out of ‘late time’ while make running repairs to the car.

White’s misfortune has thrown the door open for both the Targa victory, and the Australian Tarmac Championship title. Continuing his good form, Tony Quinn continues to lead, with Matt Close and Mathew Sims battling for the minor places.

For Dean Herridge and the Maximum Motorsport Subaru, it’s been another ‘clean’ day of rallying. “We’ve had no issues in the morning stages. We did lose 4th gear on ‘Elephant Pass’, so we just slowed for ‘Rossarden’ and ‘Longford’. The boys have replaced the ‘box’ now, and apart from that the car has been perfect. If we can keep this up we’ll be well placed to challenge the cars ahead of us on the final two days.”

“Inside the car, it’s been great”, continued Dean. “This is the first time Ben (Searcy) and I have competed together, and it’s working really well. We know we’ve got a bit of an advantage in the wet weather, but we’re more than holding our own in the dry. So we’ve very happy with our position at this stage of the event.”
Another eight stages await the crews tomorrow, as they work their way up to Devenport, returning via the long Mount Roland and Deloraine stages.

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“We’ve had an untroubled run today”, commented Dean. “We’re not too far from the lead and we’re not asking a lot of the car at the moment, so I’m pretty happy.”

Likewise Graham Iddles, in the #985 Maximum Motorsport Subaru, also had a trouble-free day and completed special stage eight in 31st place.

“I was really happy with our effort today. It was a really consistent performance today, and that’s what I’m trying to achieve. We’re trying to complete each stage as cleanly as possible, keep the car straight, and make sure we’re in good shape for the rest of the event.”

Tomorrow is another Launceston-based day, with the crews heading north-each in the morning for the first of eight stages which conclude with the Longford town stage, the scene of the infamous ‘Longford Challenge’.

Targa Tasmania 2011 – Leg 1 Results (Unofficial)

1. Quinn/Tillet, Nissan GT-R, 1:04
2. White/White, Lamborghini Gallado, +0.05
3. Glenney/Webb, Mazda RX8 SP, +0.22
4. Sims/Sims, Nissan GT-R, +0.37
5. Herridge/Searcy, Subaru WRX STI, +0.43
6. Close/Close, Audi TTRS, +0.44
7. Richards/Oliver, Porsche GT2 RS, +0.47
8. Weeks/Moscatt, Lamborghini Gallado, +1.06

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