TARGA: Day 3 - Full of drama

If Leg Two was action-packed, the third competition leg of Targa Tasmania was action overload.

The Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo Stradale of John and Jason White wrestled the lead back from the Nissan R35 GT-R of Steve Glenney and Bernie Webb.

The Whites had recovered the 17-second deficit to Glenney by the second stage of the morning, the awe-inspiring 37.58km Cethana.

The Lamborghini took 21 seconds from the GT-R on this stage and that, when added to the four seconds retrieved on the morning’s first stage at Mole Creek, had the Tasmanian Gallardo leading by eight seconds.

“Cethana has some steep descents and the GT-R is a big, heavy car, so we decided to take it easy there, and push on wherever else we could,” said Glenney of the time loss.

On Isandula, White and Glenney both ‘cleaned’ the stage (ie: achieved the stage’s base time and received no time penalty). They were joined by Matt and Casey Close in their Audi TT RS plus as being the only three cars to achieve this.

After lunch at Ulverstone, the afternoon’s stages increased the intensity further. Glenney/Webb clawed back nine seconds on Oldina and a further three on the spectacular Hellyer Gorge, to trail the Whites by only four seconds.

“We are down to our last diff, so are nursing it a little off the start line. We’ve also had some electrical problems in the cockpit…but we’ve still managed some good stage times,” explained White.

By the end of day service in Strahan the gap between the two protagonists was 13 seconds. Sadly, the Close Audi succumbed to a blown turbo on the day’s very last stage in Rinadeena, dropping them off the leaderboards.

Third place in Modern has been assumed by the Nissan R35 GT-R of Sims/Sims.

Classic Outright had its share of drama, overnight leaders O’Keefe/Winton-Monet having gearbox issues early on in their Holden Torana A9X.

The lead should have gone to A9X team-mates Garwood/Allen but a surge from six-time Targa Tasmania Classic winner Rex Broadbent and co-driver Paul Batten on Cethana saw them move ahead by eight seconds in their Porsche 911 RS.

Unfortunately the Broadbent/Batten Porsche rolled on Rinadeena’s final day stage, resulting in a derived time being given for those held up by the incident. Both drivers were OK, however the car has been retired from the rally.

The day ended with Garwood/Allen in front, 2:36 ahead of the 1981 Triumph TR7 V8 of Haysman/Branum. The Todd/Tighe 1971 Ford Capri Perana is third, almost four minutes behind the leaders.

The Early Modern category was relatively calm, with positions remaining as per yesterday. Pritchard/Mourant are still on the top step, 34 seconds to the good. Manion/Roach maintained the runner-up spot in their Nissan Skyline GTS-t with the Beables third in their R34 GT-R.

Showroom saw a double shock. Firstly, Spence/Kelly crashed out on Oldina in their leading Renault Sport Megane RS 250, then motoring.com.au’s own Mike Sinclair and co-driver Bill Hayes also came to grief, denying them second place behind team-mates Grant Denyer/Dale Moscatt.

The good news is they can re-start tomorrow. The bad news? They incur a 20-minute time penalty. Denyer leads Spence’s teammates Noor/Challoner-Miles by some 7:24, with yet another Megane in third place; that of Strange/Cudmore, another 2:23 further back.

Showroom 4WD also experienced a change at the top when the hitherto dominant Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X of Millar/Dean had an off on Cethana. Millar’s crew also believes the car can be repaired to see the finish line at the end of Leg Five.

This has left Showroom 4WD with a Subaru STi one-two, Newman/Lewis heading Kennard/Wheeler by 30 seconds. The Burrowes/Burrowes Evo X is a daunting 12:05 further back.

In Showroom Sports the Dean/Quigley Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 continued to munch away at the deficit to its Corvette competition. The Mustang crew won every stage but one on Leg Three, taking a minute from the nearest Corvette on Cethana and 1:01 on the day’s final stage at Rinadeena.

The Ford/Maher Corvette Z06 also overtook the similar machine of Ford/Ford to lead on time, and Dean has two days to make up another 16:20.

On a happy note the 1938 Dodge Speedster Special -- the only entry in the Vintage Rallye -- was able to compete today after missing Legs One and Two.

Saturday’s Leg Four departs from Strahan on the west coast for a further eight stages of Targa competition. Crews almost retrace their steps north, this time stopping at Burnie for lunch. With key stages including Reece Dam, Murchison (Hellyer Gorge in reverse) and the revered Riana, Leg Four is a favourite of the Targa crews.