After a lacklustre road rally debut at this year’s Targa Tasmania, the R35 GT-R has finally scored its first ever outright win in a tarmac rally - and on standard-issue street tyres, no less.

24-year-old Steven Jones was the man behind the tiller of the Fabcar R35 throughout the Quit Targa West, which took place last weekend in Western Australia and encompassed a wide range of challenging tarmac stages.

Making victory all the sweeter for Jones was the fact that he also managed to knock veteran racer Jim Richards and his Porsche 911 GT2 - not to mention Kevin Weeks in a Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera - off the top perch, proving that the humble Nissan is more than able to go toe-to-toe with mega-dollar European supercars - and win.

Jones’s victory also highlighted the incredible capabilities of the R35 GT-R, which used the standard set of Dunlop SP Sport 600 tyres throughout the entire event while Richards and Weeks rode on R-comp rubber.

It’s a tremendous vindication of the R35’s sporting ability and a fantastic show by Jones, who by winning Targa West and de-throning Jim Richards has cemented his position as one of the rising stars of the Australian motorsports scene. Congratulations, Steve, congratulations Fabcar and congratulations Nissan. Top notch.

[Source: GTRBlog]
[Image: Brockas]