Jason and John White have begun the 2019 CAMS Australian Targa Championship on a high after clinching their maiden Targa North West title.

Behind the wheel of the Dodge Viper, the pair led the field from the start to finish, ending the first day of competition with a one-minute buffer over reigning champion Paul Stokell and CAMS Australian Rally Championship co-driver Kate Catford.

The second day of action wasn’t any different as the Whites kept up their good form to extend their lead to one-minute and 22 seconds and secure the season opener in style.

Stokell and Catford eventually ended the event in second place, while Michael Pritchard surpassed John Ireland on the second day to round out the podium.

While the White’s home-town victory was pretty straight forward with no issues, it gave them the perfect start to the season after having a weekend to forget in the same round last year. 

With the pair’s win continuing their stronghold over the competition, making it four consecutive Targa victories, Jason White was relieved to finally get the much needed win.

“It’s an important win for a whole lot of reasons – it’s our home town rally with some of our favourite roads and we’ve finally won this one and got the monkey off our back,” White said.

“It’s a great start to the championship too, which is probably the most important thing for us. Not finishing here last year cost us the championship when we managed to win everything else but this one.”

“We want to win the championship right or wrong and we want to win Targa Tasmania as well, so we can equal Jim Richards’ record of eight wins.”

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The victory also saw the Dodge Viper drivers claim the GT2 class with no complications, however it wasn't the same story in other classes as lots of drama unfolded on the final day to determine each winner.

In the GT4 class, Ralph and Malcolm Norton managed to pick up victory in the late stages of the second day after Jesse Medwin and Zak Brakey, who had been leading all weekend, suffered problems and gave up their position.

It was a similar situation in the Classic handicap as Nik Prieston and Dylan Braithwaite steered the 1975 Fiat Abarth Rallye to victory, overtaking Peter Gluskie and Samantha Winter in the final two stages.

On the final stage of the weekend, Mitchell and Darryl Ringue looked set to win the GT Sports Trophy but like a host of other drivers, mechanical issues ruined their good run, leaving 2014 Lotus Exige pilots Tony and Sandra Seymour to capitalise and win the class.

Behind the wheel of the 1979 Holden Commodore VB, Mick Downey took out the Classic GT class, Jon Mitchell and Anthony Carr claimed top honours in the Early Modern class in their 2006 Subaru S204 and Targa veterans Jack Waldron and Vin Gregory drove their 1981 Mitsubishi Stigma to a Thoroughbred Trophy win.

In the TSD class format, there was no late drama as Peter Taylor and Tristian Taylor dominated the class, six points ahead of closest rivals Mathew and Harrison Jones.

Click here to view what all the winners had to say.

The CAMS Australian Targa Championship’s next round is the iconic Targa Tasmania, taking place around Tasmania on 29 April – 4 May.