Targa Great Barrier Reef to go ahead in Cairns despite Tasmania rally deaths
Targa Australia’s CEO has addressed the future of Cairns’ Targa Great Barrier Reef event following the tragic death of three participants in Tasmania’s rally.
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ORGANISERS are pushing ahead with Cairns’ Targa Great Barrier Reef event despite the tragic death of three competitors in the Tasmanian leg of the event.
Queensland man Dennis Neagle was among the three dead after the Porsche 911 GT3 he was navigating crashed on the final day of the event. The driver also died in the crash.
It came one day after another driver, from New South Wales, was killed when his Mazda RX-7 rolled during the Arrowsmith stage of the rally.
Targa Australia CEO Mark Perry said competitors of the event understood that motorsports had “inherent risks” but that they loved to participate in the events regardless.
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“Targa operates every event to be as safe as possible, with safety being an absolute priority, and we meet the rules and requirements of both Motorsport Australia and the FIA.”
“Following on from the tragic fatalities of Targa Tasmania, Motorsport Australia has announced an Investigatory Tribunal which will investigate all aspects of incidents and make recommendations.”
He said Targa would fully co-operate with the tribunal and expected to receive recommendations prior to the Great Barrier Reef event which would be implemented.
“The Targa community continues to be excited about Targa Great Barrier Reef and we are working constructively will all parties to organise another successful event for North Queensland.”
“Even though it (the Cairns event) is only three years old, our crews love coming to Cairns, love the roads up there, so we expect a strong field for 2021 at Targa Great Barrier Reef.”
Mr Perry said he didn’t expect any drop-off in participation due to the accidents in Tasmania and that he had already seen a strong flow of entries since the weekend.
Targa Great Barrier Reef will run September 3 – 5 featuring tours and competitions across the Cairns region.
Originally published as Targa Great Barrier Reef to go ahead in Cairns despite Tasmania rally deaths
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