Lotus Club Queensland
Dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of the Lotus experience
Login
Register
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Membership
    • Member Login
  • Events
    • Calendar
  • Motorsport
    • Lakeside DTC Timed Laps
    • LAKESIDE DTC RESULTS
  • Magazine
  • For Sale
    • Merchandise
    • Classifieds
  • Posts
  • Galleries
  • Directory
    • Suppliers & Parts
    • Advertisers
  • Archives
tgbr-banner

Targa Great Barrier Reef 2019

Targa GBR 2019 is done and dusted. Lotus cars were represented by 19 cars over competition and tour categories.

By Darryl Ringuet.

Proud GT Sports Trophy winners Darryl and Mitch Ringuet at the finish line.

Finally, we got the monkey off our back, we had a battery clamp issue at Targa North West 2019, a speedo issue at Targa Tasmania 2019, and last year we were second place at Targa GBR because we were just not good enough.

GT Sports Trophy Podium

We were determined to get the job done this time. That said, the level of competition we faced in Tony and Sandra Seymour, Steve Sher and Fergal Murphy, and Martin Duursma and Richard Wodhams, was ridiculously hard.

To be good enough to beat all these fellow Lotus teams we had to bring our A game and then some. To put this in perspective on the Lake Morris stage we came 3rd outright against amazing cars and drivers that were all super experienced in Targa racing, and not limited to 130kmh, and we only just beat Tony and Sandra by 8s. The Seymour’s made 6th place overall on this stage, with Steve and Fergal in 10th outright, with Martin and Richard not far behind them.

Lineup of the Lotus tour group

At the end of day one we were in 6th place overall with Tony and Sandra in 10th place overall, and Steve and Fergal in 11th place overall. In fact counting the GT2 Lotus cars of Paul Stokel and Kate Catford in 2nd overall, and Jeff Morton and Damon Nicoli in 3rd overall, we ended the day with 4 Lotus in the top 10 overall places. Talk about the little cars that can punch above their weight.

By the end of Day 2 we were in 10th outright, and at the end of day 3, by calculation, as we had one stage cancelled as a certain black Lotus got a bit enthusiastic and “caressed” an Armco railing, we were 9th Overall and the Seymours finished 10th overall.

This was an amazing showing by the Lotus cars in the event.

Paul Stokel after coming second outright

We are now leading the Seymours by one point in the National GT Sports Trophy Targa Championship and it will come down to who blinks at Targa High Country, hopefully we have used up all our bad luck this year. Martin Duursma and Richard Wodhams are currently in 4th place in our class in the National championship.

As always Paul Stokell and Kate Catford were up the pointy end of the field chasing down the monstrously powerful Dodge Viper, they finished 2nd Outright which keeps them in the lead of the Australian Targa Championship with only Targa High Country left.

Mitch and Darryl Ringuet getting some air on the Mareeba stage.

Jeff Morton and Damon Nicoli were flying as usual and unfortunately a small indiscretion by Jeff on the Milla Milla stage put them out of the race. They were running 3rd outright at this stage.

We had three days of amazingly tight competition, getting to drive on some of the most amazing pieces of road in Australia that were just built for Lotus cars, and supported as always by the team at Simply Sports Cars. As per usual “Hollywood” aka Mitchell Ringuet flew in, let his nav do the recce’s, drove the wheels off my car, had a big drink Sunday night, then flew home. To spite him, his mother and myself had a holiday for a week around Port Douglas and Fitzroy Island to spend some of his inheritance. Made the long drive home at least a bit more palatable.

RESULTS TARGA GREAT BARRIER REEF

GT2 and OUTRIGHT
2nd Place Paul Stokell and Kate Catford
GT SPORTS TROPHY
1st Place Darryl and Mitchell Ringuet
2nd Place Tony and Sandra Seymour
4th Place Martin Duursma and Richard Wodhams
12th Place Jason and Euan McGarry
DNF (whilst in 3rd Place) Steve Sher and Fergal Murphy
TSD
1st Place Peter and Tristan Taylor
3rd Place Rob Bryden and Ian Noble
9th Place Peter Quinn and John Johnson
12th Place Andrew Lydon and David Doyle
Loads of Lotus crews enjoying the podium celebrations.

Stanthorpe Murder Mystery Tour DTC September 2019

Related Posts

mp-banner

Events, Gallery 2022, Homepage, Racing

Morgan Park Sprints R4

gold-rush-banner

Events, Gallery 2022, Homepage, Racing

Gold Rush Hill Sprint – 2022

leyburn-banner

Events, Gallery 2022, Homepage, Racing

Leyburn 2022

Random images

IMG_6501 17-Elise-garages.jpg MG_8235 MG_6586 btiu-16 15-Lunch-at-Sirocco-4 IMG_5316 P1020663 P1020652 IMG_0770 box-of-bits IMG_4863 IMG_7106 IMG_6817 image_280 image_187 IMG_3304 119_1946_IMG IMG_7419 34_John_and_Cheetah A contemplative Martin vb-Ken Philp Glorious-Bacon-and-Eggs results BOM In Transit Mt-Cotton-Hillclimb-Sep17-11 europas-2 Tony-and-Sandra-Seymour George dismounting 112_1298_IMG The Pits dtc-ken-philp Jon and Shane Ormiston-17 Ormiston-6 Shane-Murphy Wybes-Elite George-Rowes-Lotus11-1 IMG_4896 Nurburgring_car_park_2001 main-36 Greg_Bray_Europa main-13 Mar-main-14 Mar-main-4 Jan-main-10 Retail-therapy-in-action Heading_up_Tamborine F1000022 main-26 P1080269 Ploughman's Lunch Ploughman's Lunch 1425988397_f9c9688ccc_m_1 Marchelli Bianci Elan S1 IMG_0073 DSC_5341 IMG_0340 img_1588 IMG_6354 IMG_1366 IMG_1286 IMG_4019 IMG_3286 IMG_3171 Wybe_looking_rattled Fire-lighting-challenge IMG_8043 IMG_8028 IMG_8025 DSC03843 IMG_5101 image_193 IMG_8503 Evan-Molloys-S1-Exige-by-SDPICS Photo-28-11-20-8-10-35-pm GIC3a GIC2 giles-elise award-tony-galletly Colin-event-organiser_gw IMG_1427 image1-1 New-member-Paul-took-the-trophy-for-his-Elise-220 endless-chain-makes-a-huge-difference blown-holden pretty-red-elise 20140304_192936 Dick R _MG_9695 as Smart Object-1 P1020959 main-19 main-41 aston-martin IMGP8683 IMG_6184 BEST EDITED GROUP SHOT Railway-Museum-1 triumphant

Recent Articles

  • Morgan Park Sprints R4
  • Kev’s Big Day Out
  • Duratec Elise – better late than never
  • Gold Rush Hill Sprint – 2022
  • Marburg Pub Run – 4 Sept 2022
  • Unique +2 Road Trip to Brisbane
  • Leyburn 2022
  • August 2022 DTC

Latest Gallery Images

20220220_093834 20220220_093818 20220220_093827 20220220_093743 20220220_093812 20220220_093730

Search articles by category

Archived articles

Lotus Club Queensland
© Lotus Club Queensland   |   Site by Black Eye Studios