Team: GTI Fahrvergnügen

Driver: Blair Riddle
Co-driver: TBD
Vehicle: 2015 VW GTI
Division: Targa Tour
Country: Canada

Team VeeDub blasts through the town of Brigus on the final stage of 2024. (Photo: Matt Myler)

Team GTI Fahrvergnügen feels the need for speed … and driving fun

Team GTI Fahrvergnügen (formerly Team VeeDub) returns to Targa Newfoundland in 2025 for the second year in a quick and agile 2015 VW GTI.

Last year, Targa volunteers Blair Riddle and Wayne Lorenzen shared driving and co-driving duties in the Fast Tour. Wayne now has his own Targa 1 rally car with Aaron Ayotte (see their team profile) so Blair will pair up with another co-driver for the renamed Targa Tour.

Originally from Nova Scotia, where he practised his driving skills along the twisty highway to Peggy’s Cove, Blair spent 30 years in Alberta before moving to Newfoundland and Labrador. An experienced public relations practitioner and motorsports devotee, he provides media and public relations duties for Targa when he’s not behind the wheel.

“Driving in Targa 2024 was my first taste of a rally and I was instantly hooked,” he says. “It was simply an amazing experience like something out of a movie driving hard along the rolling, twisty coastal highway to St. Bride’s, speeding through Bay Bulls and Gander with crowds waving, and finally blasting through the narrow, wet streets of Brigus.”

Fahrvergnügen translates to “driving pleasure” and was the slogan for VW GTI ads in years past. “I couldn’t think of a better name for the team this year. Targa Newfoundland is all about driving pleasure and then some.”

Cape St. Mary’s Bird Sanctuary road, September 2024. (Photo: Sam Heron)
Team VeeDub made a big splash in 2024. (Photo: Ralph Saulnier)