Two people have died in a fatal crash on the final day of the Targa Tasmania, only a day after another driver was killed in the same race.
The crash occurred at Wattle Grove Road, near Cygnet, south of Hobart in southern Tasmania, police said on Saturday.
While police were yet to release further details, multiple local news outlets reported that a driver and co-driver were killed in the crash.
“Targa Australia can confirm that there has been double fatality after a crash on the Cygnet stage of Targa Tasmania at around 11.45am,” Targa Tasmania said in a statement.
“The stages were downgraded at 12.17pm to touring only and competitors returned to the finish at PW1 in Hobart.
“Next of kin are still to be advised. Further details will be provided when available.”
Tasmania police also confirmed in a statement on social media that officers and emergency services were responding to a “serious single-vehicle crash at Wattle Grove Road at Cygnet, around 200m from the Cygnet Coast Road intersection”.
Motorists were asked to “avoid the area or anticipate delays until the scene is cleared”.
It follows the death of veteran competitor Shane Navin, 68, who died after his red 1979 Mazda RX-7 rolled on Friday morning on the Lyell Highway in the state’s remote west. His co-driver, Glenn Evans, was uninjured, a statement from race organisers said.
Emergency crews were unable to revive Navin after the crash, about 35km into the Mount Arrowsmith stage of the race.
The Mercury newspaper reported that a second Saturday crash occurred at Pelverata, with an unnamed local saying the race car had ploughed through his shed. The paper said the competitors had walked away from the scene of the crash.
Saturday’s fatal crash is the fourth in the race’s 26-year history, and the second in two days.
In 2013, 71-year-old NSW driver John Mansell was killed when his Porsche ran off the road and into a tree at Exton.
Melbourne navigator Ian Johnson died in 1996 after a crash in the state’s northwest.
The Targa Australia chief executive, Mark Perry, said it was a “very sad time for the Targa community” on Friday following Navin’s death.
“Shane was a much loved and admired member of our Targa family,” he said.
The 2,000km Targa Tasmania event began on 19 April.
