TARGA: Day Four - White goes west

We’ve seen it all before: Jason and John White driving through a Targa stage with the rear of the Lamborghini on fire.

Last time it happened was during their legendary Mount Buller climb in Victoria, but today’s adventure occurred on Rosebery, the last stage of Day Four and the 28th of what is proving to be a testing Targa Tasmania.

“We had an engine mount come loose and we didn’t have time to properly reattach the rear under tray,” said John White of the incident.

“This allowed the rear skirt to fold up on the exhaust and try to set the car on fire again. It’s all good now; it was only a little fire with no real harm done, and we’ve fixed the problem,” he continued.

The issue didn’t appear to slow the multiple winners down in what is effectively their backyard.

But the day opened controversially when the opening Mole Creek stage had to be cancelled after sections of the road were found covered in oil, causing a local stir and resulting in a police investigation. We'll keep you updated on developments.

Day Three sensations Steve Glenney/Bernie Webb took the shortened Cethana stage, which was promoted to the day’s opener after Mole Creek was canned, but it was the White Lamborghini that took out the remaining sixstages including an eight-second victory on the flaming last stage.

“The tyres are definitely wearing out, but hopefully it’s the same for everyone else,” said Glenney. “We put new fronts on this morning, but it created a huge in-balance. Through Cethana it was pretty hairy, but we just have to manage it from here and see what we can do. We’ve heard a few more noises – a few more minor worries, but we’re hanging in there.”

Despite this Glenney was able to move up to second outright behind White, overtaking the other front-running GT-R of Jamie Vandenberg/Dennis Sims in the process, although he sits a daunting 2:27 off the Lamborghini.

Sadly, former second-place men Eddie Maguire/Michael Potter suffered a blown head gasket in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, falling to fourth behind Vandenberg.

In Classic Outright Haysman/Hughes continue to lead in their yellow Triumph TR7 V8, extending their lead over the Faux/Mihajlovic Mazda RX-7 to 3:33. Unfortunately the Ulrich/Ulrich Jensen CV8 which had been in contention early dropped down the field on Riana, though set a string of quick times to recover from 18th to 13th by Rosebery’s end. Instead the 1948 Holden of the Freestones has slotted into third.

Early Modern sees has the Nissan R34 Skyline GT-R of Hendy/Winton-Monet still leading, extending their Leg Three lead over the Howarth’s earlier R33 GT-R by 12 seconds to lead by 3:03 after Rosebery. After overnight podium placers Scona/James dropped out of contention on the morning’t first test in Cethana, the Fords’ Impreza WRX STI has moved up to third.

In Showroom 4WD class the status quo has been flipped on its head, the legendary west coast roads claiming its share of victims. Both the Smiths’ Audi TT RS and the Liddle/Lloyd Evo X have lost their podium grips, however, it appears terminal for Smith; Liddle remains in fifth place overnight.

This has given the 2009 Kennard/Wheeler WRX STI a relatively slim 42-second lead over the Perinis’ distinctive Mercedes-Benz A 45 AMG. Another Subaru, this time a 2010 STI with the Nortons in the cockpit, lies third.

Showroom class continues to bloom for Quinn/Tillett in the new McLaren 650S. They lead the motoring.com.au Buckby Motorsport Renault Megane crew Denyer/Moscatt by 1:23 with the Dean/Cole Shelby Mustang GT500 in third another 33 seconds back. The Mustang suited the western stages, winning four of the seven tests.

We’re also happy to report that the oldest car in the race, the 1938 Dodge Speedster of Clark/Berriman, is still running strong in the Vintage category; it’s just a pity it has no class competition.

Contrary to many classic Targas, the weather has not (yet) been a factor. Rather, the emphasis has been on managing speed with reliability with tyre wear.

After overnighting in Strahan on the west coast teams have an early start tomorrow as they climb out of Strahan through the unique Queenstown stage, before tackling Targa’s big daddy: all 52km of Mount Arrowsmith.

From there, the tests ease (but only slightly) towards Targa Fest in Hobart on Friday night, before the final leg of competition on Saturday.

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

Images: Angryman Photography