Perfect conditions attract thousands to first day of Lance East Exotics Tarmac West

Perth’s premier tarmac rally, Lance East Exotics Tarmac West is underway with Leg 1 drawing spectators in their thousands who lined the streets of Ellenbrook to watch the day’s final competition along the closed roads.

Starting the day at Forrest Place in Perth’s CBD, 50 competitors were flagged off at the Ceremonial Start to tackle almost 240 competitive kilometres on timed stages over the next four days.

The first four stages were run at Whiteman Park (the first stage is not timed), that ended with Matthew O’Neill in his 2006 Subaru WRX STI and co-driver Noah Humble on top of the leaderboard, just 2 seconds ahead of Heuson Bak in his 2017 Lotus Exige S 350 with co-driver Roger Tan.

The next three stages were run along the streets of Ellenbrook, concurrently with Rallysprint competitors, to bring the total cars racing the clock to 90. Thousands of fans lined the stages, enjoying the balmy spring evening and high-octane action against a perfect sunset backdrop.

In the T200 Class, after seven stages and a total 18.86 competitive kilometres, O’Neill and Humble finished fastest, 6 seconds ahead of a tied second place. Will White in his 2018 Nissan GTR Nismo with co-driver Matthew Thompson, and Brett Morse and co-driver Rodney Ng in their BMW M2 are in equal second.

“It’s been a good solid start to the rally and it’s good to get the first day locked away, with a slender lead, couldn’t ask for a better start to the rally,” O’Neill said.

“There’s a lot to lose and not much to gain today, as you can see by the times, but tomorrow is moving day.

“The next two days is where the rally will unfold, the longer stages separate the men from the boys,” said O’Neill who is competing in his fourth Tarmac West event; his best result was second outright in 2015.

White said it’s good to be back rallying.

“Our pace is good, it’s where I expected it to be, and I reckon it’s going to be a cracking battle between the top five,” said Dardanup driver, White.

“Still, there’s it’s a long way to go – we’ll be trying to keep pace with the smaller cars, and the Tesla is super quick.”

In fourth place 13 seconds behind the lead is the rally’s sole EV, the 2019 Tesla Model 3P+ driven by Jurgen Lunsmann with his wife Helen calling notes.

Rounding out the top five 2 seconds behind Lunsmann is Heuson Bak and Roger Tan.

In the T165 Class, Aaron Williams and co-driver Geoff Duckworth took a clean sweep in their 2002 Mitsubishi Evo 7, winning every stage of the day to finish 32 seconds faster than their nearest rival.

Finishing each stage between 2 and 6 seconds behind Williams, David and Anna Hodges in their 2013 Holden VF SSV ended the day in second place, 21 seconds ahead of Dan Adams and Jeremy Edwards in their 1994 Honda Civic who finished third.

Tomorrow, Day 2 of competition, takes place in the Perth Hills with morning stages in Parkerville and Kalamunda, before Kalamunda’s Haynes Street transforms into a service park for a one-hour service and lunch stop. The afternoon stages include the famous Kalamunda Zig Zag, and the day ends with a Show and Shine in Forrest Place in Perth’s CBD on late-night-shopping night, Friday night.

Spectating is free at Lance East Exotics Tarmac West.

For more information including spectator maps, visit tarmacevents.com.au/our-events/tarmac-west/