Victorian driver Paul Stokell today revelled in perfect weather conditions in his brand new Lamborghini Gallardo to become the new leader of the 2005 Targa Tasmania tarmac rally.

The 36-year-old and his Tasmanian navigator Peter Roberts finished Leg Two from Launceston to Hobart with a total penalty time of 3-mins 41-secs, finishing with an advantage of 23-secs over the Porsche-powered Bathurst champion Jim Richards. They were followed by Queenslander Tony Quinn, also in a Porsche, and Tasmanian duo John and Jason White in a Nissan Skyline GT-R. At the end of the Day Two, the top four were separated by 39 seconds. International PGA champion Stuart Appleby is currently placed equal 23rd, also in a Lamborghini Gallardo.

Back-to-back Nations Cup champion Stokell, who finished third in Targa Tasmania in 1999 in a Lotus Elise, began today’s leg in fourth position, and then released himself from the pack by the third stage of the day, Winnaleah."It's fantastic to be in the lead, it's been a good day and the car is good and really, really quick - it's awesome. We always knew it had the potential to win the event, it's just a mater of displaying it now,” said Stokell.

Richards, who maintained second position throughout today’s nine competitive stages, was not concerned by Stokell’s pace. “Nothing is going wrong and the car is going great. Paul is also going well, we can only go as fast as we can and worry about ourselves and not him,” Richards said.

The Whites were leading by 16-seconds going into today’s first stage, but were overtaken by the Lamborghini on the Winnaleah stage. A faster Quinn on all but one stage edged the Porsche driver up to third position, bumping the all-Tasmanian team back to fourth. "We're trying as hard as we can,” said White. “I don't think there were many places today for us to make up time. We did as much as we could yesterday and there wasn't much room for improvement today."

Meanwhile Appleby was impressed by his own performance, climbing eight places up the field throughout the day’s stages.
 

“I am getting better at this. I am smoother and quicker straight out of the blocks today. This car has got a lot of potential, it’s only weak link at the moment is the driver. I am happy to be where we are in the field, we didn’t know what to expect so where we finish is where we finish,” said Appleby.

Two-times Bathurst champion Tony Longhurst enjoyed his 73km run today, finishing equal 14th, but was concerned about tyre-wear and braking capability on his Subaru Impreza WRX STi. “This is tougher than yesterday, and now I want more power and better brakes.  My tyres are too soft and we need some rain before they wear out. This is an amazing event, I have spent my whole life on circuits and to do this on an open road is fantastic,” reported Longhurst at the end of the day.

Bill Pye and his navigator Grant Geelan, both from New South Wales, led the Shannons Classic Competition in their 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera. The Victorian duo of Michael Conway and Simon Gardiner were not far behind in a 1977 Ford Escort MK2 RS2000. Rounding out the top three are 2003 Classic winners Graham Copeland and Jon Siddins in a Datsun 240Z.

Equal seventh this morning in the drivetravel.com Modern Competition were multiple Targa Tasmania competitors Ray Lintott, from New South Wales, and his Lithuanian navigator Fred Gocentas were forced out of the rally today after crashing out on the Derby stage. While first time competitor Tony Warren ran his Mitsubishi Evolution Lancer V into a tree 8km into today’s Triabunna stage. All parties involved were cleared of injury.

Tomorrow’s third leg comprises eight stages, starting and finishing in Hobart with a total competitive distance of 59.40km.