TARGA: A mixed bag for the motoring Meganes

From dawn in Strahan to an overnight in the island state capital, the Targa Tasmania teams were blessed with another crackingly clear sky for the fifth day of competition.

For the motoring.com.au Buckby Motorsport Renault Sport Meganes, the spotlight continued to shine on the Grant Denyer/Alex Gelsomino machine, however, the drought that seems to have taken hold in outback Tassie appears to have afflicted the Mike Sinclair/Julia Barkley Renault.

The latter pairing lost all coolant in the car shortly after leaving the Strahan overnight stop. After valiantly trying to top the car with water between the Strahan and Queenstown stages, only for it to immediately empty, the decision was taken to transport the car to Hobart service and see if a repair could be made overnight.

“It’s a pity that we miss Mt Arrowsmith, which is one of my favourite stages,” said a pensive Sinclair. “But there wasn’t really the chance to check and repair the car back in Queenstown.”

Co-driver Julia Barkley wore her emotions more on the sleeve: “I’m sad about how it ended... seeing the car on the back of a recovery truck is a bit heart-breaking.”

The day retirement left Denyer to fight it out alone with the exotic muscle surrounding him, including the Showroom class leaders Quinn/Tillett in the McLaren 650S and Ford Mustang Shelby GT 500 of Dean/Cole.

The triumvirate has turned the class into a three-horse race, and Quinn’s opening time in the 32.97km Strahan was 17 seconds faster than Dean and 29 seconds up on Denyer.

“We had a bit of a spin in there which lost us some time,” said Denyer, though co-driver Gelsomino was in awe of the stage: “What an incredible road,” he said.

Denyer recovered on the Queenstown stage to second, finishing only five seconds off the McLaren with a wafer one-second gap back to Dean.

From there crews shifted to the longest Targa stage, the 51.37km Mt Arrowsmith. With the morning sun peaking over the mountains, the surface was unpredictable, the stage dotted with super-fast sections tempered by twists.

In short, Arrowsmith had sections that could suit the Renault, and others that were created for supercars.

At stage's end the results read Quinn, Denyer (+16sec), Dean (+17sec).

The next stage at Tarraleah had Denyer a solitary second off the stage win, again behind Quinn with Dean another two seconds adrift.

At Ellendale all three were able to clean the stage, and at the Grasstree Hill stage – the short 4.75km jaunt that has been used to end recent Targas past – Quinn beat Dean by two seconds.

With only one day and four stages of competition left to the south of Hobart Quinn’s 1:52 lead looks unassailable. He is also a credible fifth in the outright standings, with Denyer seventh overall. Can he make the top six outright?

Full coverage of 2015 Targa Tasmania on motoring.com.au

Images: Angryman Photography