Dean Herridge will team up again with Bill Hayes for this year’s Targa West rally.
Camera IconDean Herridge will team up again with Bill Hayes for this year’s Targa West rally. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Big names back for Targa West Rally

Lucy JarvisHills Avon Valley Gazette

Landsdale resident Dean Herridge (39) and Maida Vale’s Bill Hayes (47) will tackle the tarmac stages in and around Perth in the event, which starts this Thursday with a ceremonial start in Forrest Place.

Herridge and Hayes competed together from 2005 to 2007 when they were strong competitors in both the Australian and Chinese Rally Championships, competing for Subaru, as well as pairing up for several key tarmac rallies.

“It feels like we’re getting the band back together,” Herridge said, adding it was a last-minute decision to enter.

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“My pitch to Bill was, ‘Look, I don’t know how we’ll go, but let’s give it a crack’.”

Herridge, who is an active partner of Maximum Motorsport and a regular media commentator, started his rallying career in 1994 at the age of 17.

The following year, he was the youngest driver to compete in a round of the World Rally Championship (Rally Australia).

He went on to numerous podium finishes in the Australian Rally Championship and won the 2011 Australian Targa Championship.

Meanwhile, Hayes, who claimed the Asia Pacific Rally Champion Co-driver title in 2012, retired from rallying in 2014.

The following year, he was lured back into the co-driver’s seat by Subaru’s Molly Taylor and the pair remain a strong force in the ARC, competing as part of the Subaru Do Motorsport team.

Herridge and Hayes will compete in a 2009 Subaru WRX STI, sponsored by Australian automotive supplies company Forch, Subaru Osborne Park and Elf Racing Fuels.

“If it wasn’t for them, it wouldn’t have come together in such a short timeframe,” Herridge said.

“We are all looking forward to a great event.”

Targa West is a four-day rally with stages in Wanneroo, Malaga, Whiteman Park, Toodyay, Lower Chittering, Bullsbrook and in the city.

Visit www.targawest. com.au for details.