Several first-timers will join the Targa family this fall. Here are some of the new teams that will “Race the Rock” for the first time.
Making their debut in Targa Newfoundland is the team of Wounded Warriors Racing or WWR for short. Driver Sonny Chauhan from British Columbia and team manager Lauralee Mills are military veterans and co-driver Greg Fung, a long-time friend of Sonny’s, is an engineer living in Germany. They are racing a Ford Fiesta in support of veterans and first responders by raising funds for Wounded Warriors Canada.
Another team new to Targa is Scalar Performance. Brian Bourne and co-driver Omar Khan are excited to join the event and take in all that Newfoundland and the rally have to offer. This will be Brian’s first rally of any kind, and he’s extremely happy to have experienced co-driver Omar at his side. While rallying is new to Brian, his passion for speed began with motorcycle racing in the late ’90s. More recently, he became the co-founder and CEO of Scalar Performance, a company that builds and integrates modern high-performance powertrains into unique and compelling vehicles. Omar is a proud “come from away” who once called Newfoundland home and he’s excited to return as part of this unique and historic event.
Doug and Phyllis Bain – Team Bain – from Ontario first explored Newfoundland in 1977, traveling the island in Doug’s 1973 Datsun 510 – a classic rally car of its era. That unforgettable road trip planted the seed for a return, and nearly five decades later, they’re back, this time as participants in the Targa Tour division behind the wheel of a 2020 BMW M2 Competition.
Taking on the challenge of Targa Newfoundland has been a long-time dream of the Quebec-based rally team of Enrico “Rico” Bouchard and Patrick “Pat” Levesque. They’ve rallied together in the Canadian Rally Championship under the name Stream Racing and won in the Vintage class. “Not long after we started rallying together with the vintage BMW (1968 BMW 1600ti) it became our goal to make it to Targa,” says Enrico. “It’s the ultimate race for a vintage car in North America.”
Chris and Jeff Mason, Driving La Carrera, grew up in New Jersey but life took them in opposite directions. Jeff headed west to Colorado and Chris went east to Venice, Italy. Rally racing together has become a way to bridge the distance and stay close with each other. They’ve done numerous rallies including La Carrera Panamericana, the seven-day vintage car rally across México, which they’ve run three times achieving an overall class podium and numerous stage wins. Their car is a 1965 Volvo Amazon 122S appropriately named Mzcalero.
Targa is something of a homecoming for TADA Motorsports. In early 2002, a shiny new silver Nissan Spec V drove off a lot in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland. Later that year, it left the island with owner Stephen Dawe just before the very first running of Targa Newfoundland. Now, 23 years later, both car and driver – and a kick-ass co-driving team of Talia Bell and Craig Lundrigan – return home to “The Rock” from Alberta to live out a racing dream that has been building for more than two decades.
Other Targa first-timers include Charles Brooks in a Nissan 240SX; Daniel Bottichio in a Subaru STI; Tom and John Flanagan in a Ford Mustang; Joshua Mousseau and Keith Libolt in a Porsche 944; and Robert and Kathleen Donally in a Honda Fit.
We wish a warm Newfoundland welcome to all the new and returning teams!
Read profiles of these teams and more on the Targa website.