TARGA: Day Five - Snake bitten

It’s not the way anyone wanted this battle to end, but it’s the way it is.

Jason White has been forced to retire with an engine failure in his new Dodge Viper ACR Extreme. The Tasmanian’s Mopar expired on the Mt Arrowsmith stage, destroying the 15sec cushion he had built up over rival Matt Close’s Porsche 991 911 GT3.

This left Close with a massive 9min category lead by the end of Leg Five’s six stages, which took crews from Strahan to Hobart.

“I think an over-rev of the engine in the Queenstown stage may be to blame. We’re gutted,” White said of the retirement.

Second place is now Michael Pritchard’s, in the second Dodge Viper ACR, though a look at his tyres suggests he may be nursing his mount to the finish.

Jim Richards lies third in his Porsche Cayman GT4, though he showed some of his previous form by matching Matt Close on the 9.83km Ellendale stage in the afternoon.

“I’ve been in this position before with a day to go and that’s when you start listening for noises in your car,” Close said.

“It’s sad to see Jason out. Ideally it’s not what you want to see – you want to go out there and battle it out with the best.

“We had a strategy and plenty of rubber left for a battle tomorrow. Nothing would have made me happier than to be in a tight podium with Jason.

“While we can afford to cruise now, it’s sometimes easier to keep bit of speed up, otherwise you can just go off being lazy.

“You have to be so careful as it’s easy to make a mistake or pick up a puncture.”

In the GT4 category Steve Glenney continues to lead in the Buckby Motorsport 2008 Subaru Impreza STI. He leads by 2:04 over Tony Quinn’s Lamborghini Huracan with the Nissan GT-R of Angus Kennard in third place and only 2sec off Quinn.

“Even though we have a reasonable lead, we haven’t backed off too much. You can’t help but go quick through Strahan, Queenstown and Mount Arrowsmith as they’re such great stages,” Glenney said. “You can lose a lot of time in them if you back off too much.

“There’s some great stages south of Hobart tomorrow and it will be much the same for us then. We’ve still got a slight engine misfire, but I’m managing it and I know what to do to get on top of it.”

The Modern category is comfortably led by Brendan Winterbourn’s 2011 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X.

Although early category leader Simon Cliento showed what might have been with a string of fastest times in his 2005 Porsche 911 Turbo S, Winterbourn was able to stretch his overall lead to 3:54 over Greg Burrowes’ 2009-model Evo X.

Third place sits with Peter Mayer and his 2007 Porsche 911 GT3, though he is another 2:33 behind.

It’s also a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution benefit in Early Modern, with Alan Roe’s Evolution VI RS TME still holding sway. The white rocket enjoys a 3:24 lead over Mark Balcombe’s 1995 Mazda RX-7 SP and 4:22 over Andrew Bollom’s similar rear-drive rotary machine.

For Jon Siddins and his 1970 Datsun 240Z, the Classic GT category has been a welcome return to Tassie roads. Telling us he “just wants to make it to Hobart” hasn’t slowed him down, as he is now 5:20 ahead of his nearest rival.

That rival remains Keith Callinan, his 1977 Ford Escort RS 1800 screaming away happily. Barry Faux is in third with his 1985 Mazda RX-7, another 11sec behind and poised to close tomorrow.

The big news – after White’s demise – centred around Peter Ulrich, who had dominated the Classic category until Leg Five.

Worries commenced on the opening Strahan stage where the 1963 Jensen CV8 dropped 1:28 thanks to axle issues. By the end of the day Ulrich had slipped to fifth.

New leader Leigh Achterberg’s 1982 Porsche 944 wasn’t without problems either, breaking a suspension ball joint on Mt Arrowsmith and limping home. He leads Paul Freestone’s 1960 Aston Martin DB4 by 1:30 overnight, with Charlie Hughes in a 1982 XE Ford Falcon only 29sec further back.

The Vintage category has Wayne Clark looking a near-certainty to take the title in his 1938 Dodge Speedster Special, over 1.5hrs ahead of the 1936 DeSoto Special of Graham Copeland.

Leg Six is run predominantly to the south of Hobart, Tasmania’s capital. Only 64km remain in terms of competition: Who’s your pick for the Targa title?