Troy Wilson and Toni Cameron have continued their dominant year in the Shannons Targa Rallysprint Series, securing their third straight win for the season.
With a record 95-entries starting the Western Australian tarmac rally series, Wilson and Cameron led the field from start to finish, steering their 2010 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo to an eight second victory over Steve Jones and Caleb Ash.
Despite Jones and Ash applying pressure throughout the whole evening and posting the fastest final run, Wilson and Cameron’s first three runs were good enough to give them a comfortable buffer ahead of the final run.
Rounding out the top three a further four seconds behind Jones and Ash were Dennis Heller and Sherrill Richardson in the 2004 Mitsubishi Evo.
While on paper it seemed the winners went about their evening in the same manner as previous rounds, Wilson revealed there was much more to their victory, with him looking highly unlikely to compete just 10 minutes before the race.
“To win was great. I am pretty happy with the round last night but I have had a few issues with the car recently and only just managed to get into the round,” Wilson said.
“We weren’t sure what the problem was, but eventually found that we had leaks in the boost line and somehow we temporarily fixed it just in time.
“It was definitely a challenge and I am happy with the result, but I felt could have done better. I even forgot to turn my light on for one of the runs, which was pretty funny.
“Even though I have won three in a row, I am not comfortable with my position just. In rallying, anything can happen on any stage, especially in these sprints. There is very little room for error, so touch wood nothing bad happens for the rest of the year.”
The top three were cut above the rest as fourth placed Matt O’Neill and Mandy Lister finished 13 seconds slower than the podium, however they managed to edge out 2019 champion Paul Brockbank and co-driver Matt James-Wallace by just two seconds. Peter Major’s woes this season continued with the Peugeot AP4 unable to fire, finishing 21st outright.
Photo: Dave McShane
International guests Jimmy, Alister and Max McRae all enjoyed a fun evening out in the car with rally legend Jimmy guiding his 1976 Porsche 911 to a top 40 finish, while 14-year-old Max ended his first ever competitive drive with Alister by his side, in 74th.
The next round of the Shannons Targa Rallysprint Tarmac Series will take place at Perth Motorplex on Thursday 6 February.