Canning Vale-based rally team GTi Racing is gearing up for the 2016 Quit Targa racing season with a new look team and a third car.
Targa is a road race series, which team owner Simon Gunson has been competing in since 2008.
By 2012 the team had expanded to include a second car driven by Simon’s wife Sharon, who took the sport up the previous year.
Mr Gunson said the team was now expanding to include a Ford Capri A2 driven by his former co-driver Jurgen Lunsman, who would be joined by his wife Helen.
Mrs Gunson would take on Alex Wilde as a co-driver and Mr Gunson would welcome back his original co-driver Murray Armenti.
Mr Gunson said while the team was set to look very different he was hoping for the same level of success as in previous years, which saw them take home the top position in the 2014 Targa West Classic competition.
“The three cars will be in three different categories so we’re hoping to get them all on the podium,” he said.
“They’re all capable cars but it’s just dependent on everything going right because each event is over a couple of days, so it’s a marathon not a sprint and there’s a lot issues that can come into it.
“You can hold a really good lead but at the last stage something can go wrong and you can lose it all, so it can be really heartbreaking.”
He said while he had always had a passion for racing his wife only discovered it in more recent years.
“I was doing it and Sharon got in the car and I thought ‘well she’s quick, she just needs to hone her skills a bit’ and she’s been competitive ever since,” he said.
“She’s so competitive she’s shown the boys how to do it and she provides a benchmark for them so they know if they can keep up with her they’re doing alright.”
He said a lot of work went into the team, which ran on volunteers.
“There’s so much planning that goes into and we compete in a lot of the smaller events just to keep the eye for it,” he said.
“We just finished competing in the McRae summer series, which runs out of the Kwinana Motorplex but the next big event is Targa South West, which will be held in May.”
To keep up to date with the team visit facebook.com/GTiRacingGirls/.
