Jeff Morton and Ben Nicoli have won the second round of the 2021/2022  Motorsport Australia TARGA Championship in what was a dominant three-day display.
 
Taking place around Mount Buller and surrounding areas such as Mansfield, Eildon and Whitefield, the event saw Morton and Nicoli a cut above the 70 other competition crews, having led right from the right from the get-go.
 
The duo couldn’t have asked for a better start to the popular three-day tarmac rally, having picked up wins in all six stages of the first leg.
 
Their strong performance saw them take a 38-second lead over the second placed crew of Angus Kennard and Steve Glenney at the end of the first day.
 
On day two, the outright leaders continued to build on their lead and steered their Porsche GT2 RS to another four stage wins before they dropped their first for the event – finishing the 15km Galls Gap stage in second place just four seconds behind Trevor Macleod and Ian Wheeler.
 
The TS15 second place was a minor hiccup for the overall leaders though, as they ended day two with another stage win and went into the final break with a handy one minute and 41 second lead over Kennard and Glenney.


With just four stages run on the final day of action, Morton and Nicoli capped off a near perfect weekend with wins on every stage, eventually taking out the victory.
 
“We were here to enjoy this rally and we didn’t expect to be in the position we are in,” Morton told TARGA post event.
 
“It’s also valuable testing for us ahead of TARGA Tasmania (April 26-May 1). There is no bigger test for a tyre than the Jamieson/Eildon stages.
 
“This is just a dream result and we are over the moon.”
 
Although Kennard and Glenney finished in second place, almost two and a half minutes behind the winners, they still got to enjoy a small win themselves, posting the equal fastest time on the day’s first stage.


Rounding out the podium was Anthony Moss and Julie Hunter after the 2008 Mitsubishi Evolution X pilots moved up to third following the unfortunate retirement of Macleod and Wheeler on the opening stage of the final day.
 
In addition to their podium finish, Moss and Hunter also came away with the Early Modern 4 class victory – beating the outright fourth placed Jason and Fiona Wright driven 2008 Nissan GTR by one and half minutes.
 
In the Shannons GT class, Roger Lomman and Anne Bainbridge took out a comfortable victory in the end after event-long challengers Adam Kaplan and Aleshia Penney broke a drive shaft on the final stage.
 
Other notable class results saw Peter Gluskie and Samantha Winter go back-to-back in the Shannons Classic Handicap and Brisbane duo Paul and Claire Buccini dominate the Dutton Garage Early Modern 2 class.
 
Click here to view full results.
 
The final round of the 2021/2022 Motorsport Australia TARGA Championship is the 30th edition of the iconic TARGA Tasmania, which takes place around the apple isle on 26 April- 1 May.