Mighty Quinn makes mince meat of the opposition

Nissan GT-R driver, Tony Quinn, is one day closer to winning Targa Tasmania for the second time in three years after he extended his outright lead in the rally on Leg Three.

But even with a lead of 2min over Audi TT RS driver Matt Close, Quinn is not shining the silverware yet and plans to keep pushing over the last two legs to maintain maximum pressure on Close, and third-placed Matthew Sims (Nissan GT-R).

"We wanted to increase our buffer today, and we've done that, but we need to keep pushing on," Quinn said, in his familiar Scottish accent.

"I was going to put new tyres on the back today but we didn't need to, so we'll have new tyres for tomorrow. I'll just go as hard as I can, but sensibly."

It wasn't a great day for other outright contenders, though. Lamborghini driver Kevin Weeks had to retire his Gallardo with transmission troubles early on and Mazda RX-8 driver Steve Glenney crashed out.

Former touring car star, Andrew Miedecke, continued to stamp his authority on the Classic Outright field in his rare South African-built V8 1970 Ford Capri Perana. Miedecke has a 53-second lead over Rex Broadbent (Porsche 911) and local David Cooper (Torana A9X). 

After thinking he was out of the rally when his Porsche 911 broke a driveshaft on Leg Two, German world rally star, Walter Rorhl was back in action today but out of Classic Outright contention.

Len Cattlin's mighty Boss 302 Mustang was also in the wars, arriving at the Deloraine service stop with engine troubles.

No such problems for Port Macquarie car dealer, Miedecke, though. "The car has been excellent and we've had a real go in a couple of stages and been able to open up a bit of a gap," he smiled.

"We'll try and maintain that, or maybe just increase it slightly. The car is terrific, and we couldn't ask for more."

In the two-wheel drive Showroom category, Mazda3 MPS driver Brendan Reeves continues to shine and now has a 5min lead over the Team Skoda carsales Octavia RS of Mike Sinclair and Bill Hayes, which in turn, has a similar lead over Adam Dodd's Mazda MX-5.

Leg Four of Targa Tasmania takes crews from Launceston to Strahan on the west coast. Three of its eight stages are monsters, at over 30km long.

Other leaders include:
Late Classic Handicap: Duane Rodgers -- 1985 Porsche 911 Carrera
Early Classic Handicap: Paul Batten -- 1961 Volvo PV544
Early Modern: Blaise Paris -- 1999 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI
4WD Showroom: Tony Warren -- 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX

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