Driver dies in Tasmania Rally

Police and race officials say a driver aged in his 70s died on Wednesday after a single-car accident on the first day of the six-day Tasmania Rally.

Tasmania Police said the navigator in the same car was taken to a Hobart hospital from the scene of the accident at Exton in the northwest region of the island state.

The race’s 200-car field was due to compete in several later stages before finishing in Launceston on Wednesday night. The rally takes in 40 stages over 600km.

The fatality is the second in the Tasmanian leg of the series, which began in 1992. In 1996, Melbourne navigator Ian Johnson died.

There have been several other deaths in the domestic rally series throughout Australia. Champion former V-8 driver Peter Brock was killed in Western Australia in September 2006 and last August, driver Adam Plate was killed at the Targa Adelaide rally.