Other rally
Targa Tasmania future uncertain after latest death
Targa Tasmania boss Mark Perry admits the tarmac rally faces an uncertain future off the back of a fourth death in two events on Wednesday.
Andrew van Leeuwen
Edited: Apr 28, 2022, 9:23 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
A yet-to-be-named driver was killed in Mount Roland yesterday on just the second day of running for the 2022 edition of famous tarmac rally.
The death follows three fatalities from two seperate crashes at last year's Targa Tasmania, which prompted an investigatory tribunal and a raft of recommendations and changes ahead of this event.
Late last night organiser Targa Australia and governing body Motorsport Australia opted to downgrade the event to non-competitive, with competitors able to continue but forced to stick to posted speed limits on the closed sections of road.
The death has unsurprisingly sparked question marks over the future of Targa Tasmania as a fully competitive event.
According to Targa CEO Perry there are too many unanswered questions over the nature of the crash to make any predictions as to what that future may look like.
However he admits there is now significant uncertainty over whether it can continue in its current guise as a fully competitive tarmac rally.
"It definitely rattles the cage," he told media this morning.
"I'll be as open and transparent as I can. I can only be honest to say there its no doubt it brings it into doubt. We won't shy away from that. But we need to work through it, because what we don't know is what happened.
"I would say that if [the crash] was unrelated to the car or safety or his training or any of that stuff, that will change the conversation dramatically. And until we know all that we won't speculate on the future and what it looks like.
"We don't know what the future is. You can ask us all day. We actually have no idea.
"I can say, and what you can see out there today, is 300 cars out there having a good time at a Targa event. So just think about that. It's not necessarily the end. But what it looks like from here, we're months away from determining that."
Motorsport Australia's Director of Motorsport Michael Smith said he feels there is a future for the event, but admitted it may be non-competitive.
"Look, I certainly think there is a future for Targa Tasmania," he said.
"We'll work with Mark and Targa Australia and all of the other stakeholders to see what Targa Tasmania might look like in the future.
"It's too early to say that there's not future for Targa. It might not look different, but it's too early to speculate on that at the moment.
"[Touring only is] certainly part of the thinking. That's a discussion we'll have with Mark. But again it's too early, not knowing the circumstances of the incident, it's too early to comment with any certainty on that at the moment."
This is the 30th running of the Targa Tasmania, with this latest death the sixth in the history of the event.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Targa Tasmania downgraded to non-competitive event
Next article Targa boss explains competitive stage ban
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Andrew van Leeuwen
Toby Price explains 'unfortunate' Mitsubishi split
Dakar
Dakar
Dakar
Toby Price explains 'unfortunate' Mitsubishi split
Supercars parity review begins
Supercars
Supercars
Supercars parity review begins
SRO set for bigger Australian GT presence
GT World Challenge Australia
GT World Challenge Australia
SRO set for bigger Australian GT presence
Latest news
Ducati says Aprilia “can do whatever they want” amid team order talks in MotoGP
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
17 min
Ducati says Aprilia “can do whatever they want” amid team order talks in MotoGP
Why it's now Oliver Bearman versus Rafael Camara for the next Ferrari vacancy
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
38 min
Why it's now Oliver Bearman versus Rafael Camara for the next Ferrari vacancy
MotoGP Australian GP: Marco Bezzecchi leads Aprilia 1-2-4-5 in Friday Practice
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
3 h
MotoGP Australian GP: Marco Bezzecchi leads Aprilia 1-2-4-5 in Friday Practice
Max Verstappen slams “unacceptable” bumps at Austin F1 track: “It's out of control”
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
10 h
Max Verstappen slams “unacceptable” bumps at Austin F1 track: “It's out of control”
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe