Day 2 of Perth’s premier tarmac rally, the four-day Lance East Exotics Tarmac West saw competitors tackle eight stages, 67 competitive kilometres and a total distance of 245 kilometres in the Perth Hills.

In Parkerville this morning, 45 rally cars lined up at the start line, and by the day’s end in Kalamunda, 35 finished.

In the main Competition T200, leaders Troy Wilson and co-driver Aaron Williams in their 1998 Mitsubishi Evo 7 started the day 2 seconds ahead of Bryce Moore and co-driver Adrian Burney in their 2022 Toyota Supra. Wilson finished the day 31 seconds ahead of Moore, despite a boost line issue and a sometimes-functioning handbrake.

“On the Zig Zag, as soon as I knew the handbrake failed the first time, I thought I’d go wide to see if we could make it old-school way, but there were cones there and it could’ve been a disaster, so I had to try the handbrake again, and it worked, it kind of works when it wants to, and as a result, I was ten seconds quicker on the second Zig Zag stage,” said Wilson.

“I’m just going out there to have fun and send it, I don’t know any other way.”

This is the first time both Wilson (currently in first place) and Moore (currently in second place) have entered the longer format Lance East Exotics Tarmac West; both are experienced in Rally Sprints.

Rounding out the top three is the only EV in the category, a Tesla Model 3P+ driven by Jurgen Lunsmann with his wife and co-driver Helen calling the notes.

This year the Tesla is being recharged by a large portable battery that is in the back of their support car, which is another electric vehicle.

Kalamunda’s Haynes Street was closed to usual traffic to host the Lance East Exotics Tarmac West Service Park on two occasions.

The services were much needed by competitors too. There was a scurry of activity around the Tesla during the first service as the crew tried to rectify a wheel sensor issue that was playing havoc with the car’s computer.

The crew for Will White and Matt Thompson’s 2006 Mitsubishi Evo 9 worked quickly to fix a fuel pump which was damaged during an off on the third stage of the day, Kalamunda East. It forced them to miss the Zig Zag 1 putting them out of contention, but they were able to rejoin the rally and continue on.

Limited to 165km/h, Competition T165 leaders Sam Lloyd and Marc Roissetter in their 2006 Mitsubishi Evo X extended their margin from 3 seconds at the start of Day 2, to 26 seconds. Of the eight stages today, Lloyd won four, placed second by just 1 second three times, and finished one stage third fastest.

Holding firm onto second on the leaderboard is Keith Hamilton and co-driver David Humphreys in their 2000 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, their car suited to the three Zig Zag stages, winning all three and placing in the top three of the remain stages today.

Rounding out the top three in T165 at the end of Day 2 is Kane Pountney and Vivian Pountney in their 2013 Mercedes-Benz A45, 54 seconds behind the lead pace.

Limited to 130km/h, Competition T130 saw a change on the leaderboard today. Jumping from second up to first place to end the day with a formidable 1:08 minute lead is Alex and Lachlan White in their 1990 Nissan Silvia.