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This stage is run two ways – out to the coastal point of Leading Tickles to a lunch stop, and then back on the same road. It is a signature stage of the event due to it's speed, difficulty, and amazing views as you push up and down along a coastline that wouldn't look out of place to people used to driving California's Highway 1.

After a tight town section, we charged onto the higher speed roads of the stage. We drove as hard as we could, carrying speed into what are mostly blind corners and big crests. No matter how hard I pushed, the rally computer kept showing increases in penalty time. We also discovered a big weakness in the car at this point, partially contributing to our lateness. The gearing on the 5-speed Mitsubishi gearbox with our 255/40-17 tires meant that 4th gear topped out at about 180kph. With a maximum speed limit of 200kph, we really wanted that extra 20kph, but the shift to 5th is met with a tremendous drop in RPM and no power to pull through the corners. This meant it was better to simply bang off the rev limit in 4th than attempt the shift except where we had time to stay in 5th for an extended period.

Despite our best efforts, our Evo took a tremendous amount in penalties on the stage. Heading into lunch, we still managed to stay 3rd in class 9, 6th in the Modern division, and we moved up to 20th overall.

After a short break at the scenic Leading Tickles, we launched back onto the stage. The run back up the peninsula is much faster. I was much happier on the second run through, taking a much smaller penalty and really feeling the pace of the car.

As a driver, I have always known I prefer the tight twisty stuff to the high-speed tracks. That has proven itself on the stages as well, where I struggle with carrying enough speed on the high-speed stages, but I charge through the town stages at a pace others may be hard pressed to match. The drama of Leading Tickles was replaced with a very quick and clean run through Appleton. We entered Gander flush with confidence, knowing it would be a tough stage but that we had the pace to run well.

One of the more popular runs at Targa, hundreds of locals line the roads to watch us scream through their neighborhood. With camera flashes popping and people cheering along, I dove into the tight 90-degree junctions of the town, banging up and down through the gears as I tried to make it through the stage with the least penalties. We were behind for sure, but we were FLYING.

I made the mistake of looking over at the rally computer and seeing how far we were behind, and that's when I made Rookie Mistake #2. I started to push harder, hoping to make up the difference. This never works. Coming into a 90-left I could not find the entry to the corner among all of the driveways. Going for the brakes just as the car bounced over a dip in the road, all 4 wheels locked up and we laid a thick patch of black rubber straight under the caution tape blocking the edges of the course. A quick reverse and we were back on course, but we lost at least 10-15 seconds with that costly mistake.

Clearly unhappy with the last stage, we had to take heart in keeping the car on the road and in one piece, a feat in itself during a day that ate 2-3 more cars on the rough roads, and managing to keep the penalties as low as we could. We finished the day losing one place in the Modern standings, down to 7th, but jumping up to 2nd in class 9. We will have to clean up our driving if we're to overtake the car running first in our class. In Targa Newfoundland, cars break and conditions can change in an instant.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

VIEW THE DAY 2 PHOTOS HERE

READ THE INTRO HERE
READ THE ABOUT THE MAZDA TEAM HERE
READ LEG 1 STORY HERE
READ LEG 3 STORY HERE
READ LEG 4 STORY HERE