With his "eye back in" and the exhaust manifold problems which slowed him on the second leg behind him, defending Targa New Zealand titleholder Glenn Inkster and co-driver Spencer Winn spent yesterday slowly rebuilding a lead.
The four-time winners in their Mitsubishi Evo 8 made the most of the wet, cold comnditions in this year's southern South Island-based tarmac motor rally.
After two days of sultry, hot temperatures and, in the main, dry, fast roads, yesterday's rain and single-digit temperatures favoured pairings used to such conditions such as Inkster and Winn, fellow former event winners and leading Dunedin drivers Martin Dippie and Greg Ball (Porsche GT3 RS) and Christchurch gravel rally specialists Marcus van Klink and Matt Richards (Mazda RX8), who managed to pip Auckland event regulars David Rogers and Aidan Keely (Mitsubishi Evo 10) for third place on the final stage.
Runaway allcomers class leaders Inkster and Winn went on to win seven of the day's stages, only conceding the return run through the 10.23km Trotters Gorge stage on the way back to the second overnight stop in Dunedin to the Porsche GT3 RS of production 2WD class leaders Dippie and Ball.
Another Dunedin Porsche pairing, Regan Hall and Nathan Graham, was challenging Dippie and Ball at the end of the second leg on Wednesday.
However, they crashed out of the event on the first run through Trotters Gorge yesterday morning.
After crashing off the road and into a grove of small pine trees at the end of the 10th stage on Wednesday afternoon, early event leader Haydn Mackenzie, of Auckland, was back in the event yesterday and running at barely reduced pace, on Thursday.
Despite major damage to the rear suspension plus some panel damage, an all-nighter by his crew and an army of helpers enabled he battered Mitsubishi Evo 10 to leave the start at Dunedin's Forsyth-Barr Stadium and run competitively all day.
Proving the accident had not rattled him the former V8 Touring car ace, who now races UTVs in the national off-road racing series, set the second-quickest stage time behind Inkster in three of the day's stages and was in the top 10 in the rest. He returned to Dunedin fourth overall for the day and back up to 32nd place overall despite having missed the final two stages on Wednesday.
Third overall for the day as well as third overall, behind Inkster and Winn, and Dippie and Ball, is van Klink and Richards.
Making the most of his experience in slippery road conditions,Van Klink split Inkster and Dippie to claim a day-best second place in the first stage of the day then remained a fixture in the top six until the final stage when they eased ahead of the Mitsubishi of Rogers and Kelly.
The other big movers in the rain today were former Mazda RX7 and V8 touring car ace Eddie Bell and co-driver Blair Forbes, of Christchurch, who are ninth overall.
Event rookie Bell admitted taking it easy on the first two days but said he was feeling more confident, both in himself and his BMW M3, yesterday.
Derek Ayson and co-driver Gavin McDermott (Ford Escort Mk 2) spent the day closing in on early classic 2WD class leaders, Mark and Chris Kirk-Burnnand from Wellington, and managed to finally turn the tables on the E30 BMW M3 of the Kirk-Burnnnads in the final stage.
The 24th annual Targa rally now heads to Queenstown on a penultimate day which includes six stages between Mosgiel and Ettrick.
- Ross Mackay
