Motorsport: Gypsy Day delays Targa rally

The countdown has begun for the sixth annual Targa Rotorua tarmac motor rally - but this year competitors have an extra week to prepare for the popular event.

For the past five years Targa Rotorua has been held over Queen's Birthday weekend.

But this year organisers have delayed it by a week with sign-on on Friday, June 8 and the two days of closed-road special stages around Bay of Plenty and Waikato on Saturday, June 9 and Sunday, June 10.

The reason is that June 1 is Gypsy Day, one of the most important days on the rural calendar.

"It's the start of the new dairy season, and the day - traditionally - that dairy farms change hands and farmers and share milkers shift their herds," said event director Peter Martin.

"While no one said we couldn't run our event over the usual Queen's Birthday weekend I don't think it does us any harm to be a little bit flexible in situations like this, particularly in the light of the goodwill farmers in the Bay of Plenty and Waikato regions have extended to us since we started running the Rotorua event."

As it turns out the move also suits accommodation and service providers in the city with facilities always stretched over the busy Queen's Birthday weekend.

This year the Targa Rotorua event comprises almost 400km of special stages and 500km of touring stages.

The shortest is the 18.39km Hamurana stage north-east of Rotorua on Saturday afternoon and the longest, the 40.22km Te Miro/Buckland stage (which is repeated) from just outside Cambridge to near Hinuera (north-east of Matamata) on Sunday.

Heading the entry list in the Instra.com Allcomers 4WD category, after claiming a breakthrough win in the 2011 event, is Orewa pairing Leigh Hopper and Simon Kirkpatrick in a Subaru WRX Impreza.

Their main competition is expected to come from the Mitsubishi Evo 6 entry of two-time Targa Bambina winners Glenn Inkster and Spencer Winn and four-time Targa New Zealand (the annual six-day Targa event held in October) winner Tony Quinn and his co-driver Naomi Tillett in their Nissan GTR-35.

Quinn and Tillett will be looking for a change in luck this year after breaking a front driveshaft 5km into the first stage last year then blowing a differential in the Targa Bambina event this year.

The battle for the lead in the Instra.com Modern 2WD category, meanwhile, looks set to be between Targa Bambina class winners Mark Whyte and Tracey Lance from Paeroa in their V8-engined Toyota Altezza and Pukekohe pairing Gary Murphy and James Bell in their BMW M3.

With last year's category winners Cameron Young and Steven Fisher from Opotiki (Mitsubishi Lancer GSR 4WD) now contesting the Allcomers 4WD category, favourite status in the Metalman Classic 2WD category reverts to Targa Bambina category winners Neil Tolich and Cully Paterson in their V8-engined Ford Capri Perana and the father-and-son pairing of Chris and Mark Kirk Burnnand (who finished second to Tolich and Paterson in the Bambina event this year) in their BMW M3.

This year's Targa Rotorua event has also drawn another strong entry list in the non-competitive Targa Tour category with 12 pairings set to enjoy two days of closed road touring in everything from a Holden ute to a Porsche 911 Turbo.