The 2021 Motorsport Australia Targa Championship gets underway early next month with the ever popular Targa High Country to start up the long awaited season.
It’s been more than a year since Australia’s premier tarmac rally championship made its way to the iconic Mount Buller with the Victorian event having established itself as the season finale in recent years.
However with 2020 causing a number of national championships to put their seasons on hold or be cancelled altogether, Targa High Country now finds itself in the unfamiliar position of launching the championship.
The last time Targa High Country took place, which was in November 2019, the mountain was surprisingly covered in snow – creating a highly entertaining display of action as the title fight went right down to the wire.
This time round, Mount Buller looks a little different and while some of the heavy hitters of that 2019 memorably championship fight won’t be part of the 2021 Targa High Country, there are still plenty of stars to feature in the field just under 150 entries.
Headlining the entry list is motorsport all-rounder and the winner of the only Targa event in 2020, Tony Quinn.
Behind the wheel of the 2018 Nissan GT-R, Quinn will make the journey from Queensland, but instead of having his 2020 Targa Great Barrier Reef winning co-driver Brian Forster by his side, Quinn has enlisted the services of 2019 Targa champion co-driver Kate Catford.
Quinn and Catford’s biggest rivals will be RSEA Safety Motorsport Australia Rally Championship (ARC) stars Luke Anear and Andy Sarandis, with the duo raring to make amends for their premature ending at last year's Targa Great Barrier Reef.
Other notable entries for the 16-stage event are Anthony and Sandra Seymour in the 2019 Lotus Exige Sport 410, Richard and Chris Perini in the 2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS and ARC regulars Adam Kaplan and Aleshia Penney in the 1988 HSV Walkinshaw.
With around 90 crews making up the competition side of the event, the remaining 60 will be spread across the five class tour, with all cars to experience the picturesque course at their own pace and in cruise mode.
Starting on Friday 5 February with two stages, crews will then tackle eight the following day before wrapping up with six on the Sunday.
The opening round of the Motorsport Australia Targa Championship will take place at Mansfield and Mount Buller in Victoria on 5-7 February.