New Zealand racing great Greg Murphy will get to enjoy his first taste of the Targa New Zealand tarmac motor rally later this month.
The former V8 Supercar ace and four-time Bathurst winner will take on promotional duties in the six-day October 26 to 31 event behind the wheel of an HSV GEN-F GTS.
As part of the ‘job’ the 43-year-year TV pundit will get to chauffeur local dignitaries, ‘win-a-ride’ competition winners and members of the media through stages before the main field each day.
“I’m really looking forward to this opportunity,” he said this week.”Targa’s something I’ve always been intrigued with but never been able to look at it because of other commitments. So to get the chance to drive my HSV GTS through the stages in a promotional capacity is a good way to get involved and see what it is all about.”
There will be two promo cars running in this year’s event with the other being driven by local motor racing personality ‘Racing Ray’ Williams.
HSV has been providing promo cars for the Targa event for the past six years and HSV’s Regional Manager – New Zealand, Andrew Lamb says he is a big fan of the multi-day annual odyssey.
“New Zealand has some amazing roads and we enjoy the competitive environment of Targa. It’s an event that attracts a wide cross-section of people and cars and we think it is a good place to showcase our vehicles,” he says.
This year’s six-day Targa NZ event starts in Auckland on (Labour Day) Monday October 26 and finishes in Palmerston North on Saturday October 31.
In-between are 35 closed special stages comprising a total of 1035.5kms linked by 1431.7kms of touring stages with overnight stops in Hamilton, New Plymouth (two nights), Palmerston North and Havelock North before the finish back in Palmerston North (at the city’s Square) on Saturday October 31.
A two-day Targa NZ Regional Rally event-within-the-event is also being held. It starts in Palmerston North on the second-to-last day of the main event and takes in the final 14 stages of the main event.
Information on both the main (six-day) 2015 Targa New Zealand and two-day Targa Regional Rally events is available on the event website www.targa.co.nz
Targa New Zealand events are organised with the support of sponsors Chicane, Ecolight, Federal tyres, Global Security, Kids In Cars, Metalman, NZ Classic Car magazine, Race Brakes, Racetech, TeamTalk, TrackIt and VTNZ.
