It was another excellent year of racing on the Rock, with the 2006 Targa Newfoundland wrapping up recently. Right from the get-go, the event took an interesting turn, with three former class winners eliminated on Day One. Four-time winner Bill Arnold of California and co-driver Alan Ryall of Ontario dropped out when their ’72 BMW Bavaria ran into engine trouble. Subaru Canada’s team was an early favourite too, with reigning Rally America and North America Rally Cup Champion Pat Richard at the wheel. However, an engine failure took his ’06 WRX STI out of competition. Another favourite, Ernie Jakubowski and co-driver Stan Carmichael, both of Ontario, were also eliminated after their ’06 Porsche Cayman S was damaged after sliding off the course.

With the favourites out, top prize at Targa was wide open. Not surprisingly, by the end of day two, only 15 seconds separated the third through eighth place teams.

Day three was shortened by torrential rain from Hurricane Florence, though the team of Scott Giannou of Newfoundland and Ray Felice of Ontario, managed to move from fourth into first place overall. Only seven seconds separated the top four cars.

Day Four saw a spectacular crash from Craig Seko and Ian O’Halloran of Ontario, after their 1990 Porsche 944 S2 left the course and landed in the sea. Thankfully, both drivers escaped unscathed. After clearing out the salt water, the car actually went on to cross the finish line.

By day’s end, the top three teams were separated by only two seconds. In the Grand Touring division, there was a three-way tie for first, including Subaru Canada’s Legacy GT.
Day Five, the final leg, saw local boys Bruce Terris and Andrew Proudfoot take top spot in the Grand Touring Equipped division, driving the 1991 Subaru Legacy Turbo AWD they bought off of Ebay.

On the final night, the Gold Targa Plate, awarded to teams who’ve won their division for three consecutive years, was handed out to Richard Kimber and Brian O’Kane of the UK, Joe Butler and Wayne Manuel of Newfoundland and the Open Division winners, Jim Kenzie and Brian Bourbonniere of Ontario. In the Modern Division, the team of Keith Townsend and Jen Horsey of Ontario took top honours. The Classic Division winners and overall winners of this year’s Targa were Glen Clarke and Evan Gamblin of Ontario and their 1979 Porsche 911.