Cars tackeld another eight stages on Day 3 of Targa Tasmania, as the giant field of 380 cars moved from Launceston to Burnie. Local hope Jason White, driving the brand new Dodge Viper, has wrestled back the lead in the premium GT2 competition on Day 3 of Targa Tasmania, but remains in an intense battle with Porsche driver Matt Close with three days to go. Local hope Jason White, driving the brand new Dodge Viper, has wrestled back the lead in the premium GT2 competition on Day 3 of Targa Tasmania, but remains in an intense battle with Porsche driver Matt Close with three days to go. Close started the day with a two second buffer, but by the day’s fifth stage on the run from Launceston to Burnie, White had grabbed the lead. While the pair swapped stage wins across the afternoon, White finished the day six seconds clear. “A bit of a gap there… but Matt’s going really well and were limited by the pave of our tyres, so we can go really strong for ten or twelve kays, then the tires get hot and turn to jelly” said Jason White. In the Classic handicap event, Peter Ullrich, in his 1963 Jensen CV8, remains in control. The New South Wales driver started the day 43 seconds clear of the 1961 Volvo Andrew White, who experienced early troubles, leaving second place to Leigh Achterberg in his 1982 Porsche 944, one minute 11 seconds behind Ullrich. In the outright event, Classic GT, Matthew Cardineals had been the dominant driver on the first two days, but his 1972 Datsun 240Z came to a hard ending on Castra, the day’s sixth stage. Cardinaels’ troubles handed the lead to anther Datsun driver Queenslander Jon Siddins, who suddenly found himself with a three minute buffer. The drive of the day came from former Targa champion, Steve Glenney, in the GT4 competition. Having spent the first two days in the co-driver seat, he jumped behind the wheel of the Subaru WRX and moved from 8th to first, pushing overnight leader Ben Manion’s Subaru back into second, 24 second in arrears. Pre-event GT4 favourite, Tony Quinn, remains in the mix in his Lamborghini Huracan, a further 13 seconds back in third. After regrouping in Burnie overnight, the field heads West to Stanley for lunch before going south to Strahan to end Day 4.

• published: 13 Apr 2016
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