Targa Newfoundland Leg 3 Report

NEWFOUNDLAND - The weather co-operated Wednesday, but the backroads of Newfoundland are presenting their usual challenges at Targa 2009.

Forty-nine competitors started Leg 3 at Gander, down from the 52 that left St. John’s just two days earlier. By lunch, it looked like two more teams were out, but only one of the teams didn’t log a finish at Gooseberry Cove before heading to Vernon Smith’s spectacular Toy Shop at Swift Current.

While the stages from the airport town took a bit less of a mechanical toll on the Targa parade, the timing clocks were another story.

According to unofficial results, only four teams managed to finish the without collecting penalty seconds, including overall and Classic leaders Glen Clarke and Andy Proudfoot who sit alone penalty free for the three days.

Modern leader Steve Millen took another six seconds of penalty but held on to a 21-second gap over the next modern car Porsche GT3 RS of Tom Collingwood and navigator Chris Collingwood.

Cars leave the Marystown arena at 8 a.m. Thursday for stages around the Burin Peninsula, returning to the stadium for a second car show Thursday night.

Owned by Newfoundland International Motorsports Limited, and operated by Targa Newfoundland Motorsport Club, Targa Newfoundland is one of three internationally recognized Targa motorsports events in the world. The 8th annual Targa Newfoundland will start and end in St. John's and will cover more than 2,000 kilometres of the challenging, twisty roads of the central and eastern portion of the island of Newfoundland over six days, including up to 400 kilometres of closed-road, flat-out Targa stages. Competitors have come from the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany, Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas and the U.K.

For daily updates, results and images see www.targanewfoundland.com

From Melissa Crummey // Administrative & Marketing Coordinator