Team VIP Petfoods dynamic father and son duo Tony and Klark Quinn have taken on the famous Noosa Hillclimb today for day one of the inaugural Suncoast Classic Rally – completing the event’s qualifying prologue with three runs up the mountain.
While others floundered on the one and a half kilometre circuit, causing the prologue’s duration to be shortened from its four scheduled runs to just three, Tony and Klark managed to stay out of trouble to place sixth and 17th respectively ahead of tomorrow’s leg two.
“There were a couple of prangs out there today but luckily we weren’t involved in any of those, ” said Tony.
“The car (Tony’s Porsche 911 Gt3 cup car) was absolutely beautiful, so we are more than ready to get going tomorrow.
“Leg two will be quite interesting, I don’t know what everyone else is saying but to me the stages seemed quite bumpy during recce.
“That won’t faze us too much though, and we will just get in there as always and do our best to see what we can come up with. ”
While Tony was coasting along in his Porsche, 25 year-old son Klark was pushing up the hill aboard his Mitsubishi EVO VIII for what is only his third ever rally experience.
“I was a bit edgy starting off today on the hillclimb, but I ended up ok and it all came out just fine, ” said Klark.
“The hillclimb was a bit different as it is only short, it seems like you just get started and then you’re finished already!
“The car went well though and is in good shape for tomorrow which will be a big day, so I will definitely be resting up tonight. ”
With the aggregate times of the three runs completed by the Quinn clan today forming their qualifying results, the pair are in good shape ahead of tomorrow’s leg two, kicking off from Noosa Heads at 7.45am.
Come Sunday night, approximately 900 kilometres will have been covered by the competitors and their co-drivers, with Tony and co-driver Keith Wenn and Klark and co-driver Adrian Bolton having 182 kilometres of closed road special stage to look forward to over the next three days.
Today’s Results - Top Ten
1. Car no. 971- Ray Vandersee/Jahmeil Taylor- 2004 Skelta G-Force
2. Car no. 921- Matt Close/Casey Close- 2001 Porsche 911 Turbo
3. Car no. 940- Jim Richards/ Barry Oliver- 2007 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
4. Car no. 979- Andrew Taplin/ Daniel Young- 2004 Porsche 911 GT3
5. Car no. 452- Jon Siddins/ Ferg Ferguson- 1970 Datsun 240z
6. Car no. 916- Tony Quinn/ Keith Wenn- 2006 Porsche 911 Turbo
7. Car no. 804- Jeremy Norris/ Tim Norris- 1995 Nissan GTR V Spec
8. Car no. 909- Frank Purdy /Dave Beard- 2005 Porsche 911 Turbo S
9. Car no. 912- Dylan Thomas/ Dave Thomas- 2005 Mitsubishi Evo IX
10. Car no. 7- Grant Denyer / Dale Moscatt- 2006 Subaru WRX STI C Spec
17. Car no. 972 - Klark Quinn/Adrian Bolton - Mitsubishi EVO VIII
| 
|