Heavy rain greeted the field on the morning stages on the way to Devonport, but White revelled in the wet, immediately taking time from his nearest rivals, Tony Quinn in a Nissan GT-R and Matt Close in an Audi TT RS, stretching his overnight lead of 48 seconds out to one minute 11 seconds at the lunch break.
On the Cethana stage alone, the second of the day, White took 17 seconds from Quinn across the 38 kilometres, thriving on the roads that are in his own backyard.
The afternoon four stages totalled another 92 kilometres and White was the front runner again, finishing the day one minute 48 seconds in front of Quinn, with Close third and the Mazda RX-8 of Brendan Reeves fourth.
White added exactly one minute to his overnight margin, leaving all good judges thinking only mechanical trouble can deny him of victory in 2012, even with two long days to come.
“Everyone wants a bigger lead if they can have one, but we're thrilled with this as it's a pretty hot pace running behind us,” White said. “So to have this lead at this stage of the event is a very good thing.
“The car is brilliant, it’s just behaving beautifully and allowing us to live life at the limit, but feel quite safe about it. It's really, really good and we're very happy with today.”
Rex Broadbent was equally as dominant in the Classics Outright competition. He left Launceston just 18 seconds ahead of Jon Siddin’s 1970 Datsun 240Z, but arrived in Strahan three minutes, seven seconds ahead.
“I'm delighted to be in front, and we're loving the wet,” Broadbent said.
“We seem to have a little buffer, so we won't take any risks and we'll hope to sort it all out tomorrow again.”
Simon Evan spent the day making the showroom class all his own by also building a three-minute lead over Gavin James in the Renault.
"I'm pretty comfortable with where we're at the moment," Evans said. "The Mazda3 MPS is just a beautiful car to drive through the Tasmanian countryside.
"It's all about consolidating now and just looking after the lead that we've managed to build over the past three days. We've got another tough day tomorrow and we've really got to respect those roads.”
Jeff Beable took over the lead in Early Modern after Steve Spada had a mechanical problem, and Jamie Vandenberg stretched his lead in Showroom 4WD over Sydney driver, Dean Evans.
In the handicap classes, Jon Siddins leads Early Classic, Broadbent Late Classic, and Drew Kent is the Florio leader in his 1971 Ford Falcon GT.
Wayne Clark and Trevor Berriman, continue to dominate the Vintage Rallye in their 1938 Dodge Speedster Special.
Tomorrow the field faces the longest of the five days, with another eight stages across 165 competitive kilometres, taking them to Ulverstone for lunch before returning to Strahan, ready to the final run to Hobart on Sunday.
Results - Targa Tasmania end of day 3 of 5*
RDA Brakes Modern after Day 3
1. Jason White / John White, 2011 Lamborghini Gallardo, 14m06s
2. Tony Quinn / Naomi Tillett, 20119 Nissan GTR, +1m48s
3. Matt Close / Casey Close, 2010 Audi TT RS, +2m16s
4. Brendan Reeves / Rhianon Smyth, 2010 Mazda RX8 SP, +4m05s
5. Matt Sims / Dennis Sims, 2009 Nissan GTR, +4m54s
6. Jim Richards / Barry Oliver, 2011 Porsche 911 GT2 RS, +6m04s
7 Lynn Rattray / Tony Jackson, 2008 Subaru WRX STI, +10m15s
8. Michael Pritchard / Tim Stephens, 2004 Porsche 911 GT3, +12m33s
9. Max Williams / Bruce Bush, 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, +12m43s
10. David Ayers / Max Griffiths, 2009 Nissan Skyline GTR, +13m11s
Shannons Classic Outright after Day 3
1. Rex Broadbent / Chris Randell, 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera RS, 23m01s
2. Jon Siddins / Darren Ferguson, 1970 Datsun 240Z, +3m07s
3. Donn Todd / Dean Tighe, 1971 Ford Capri Perana, +4m48s
4. John Ireland / Michael Ribot, 1977 Porsche 911 Carrera 3, +9m58s
5. Matthew Cardinaels / Damien Thomlinson, 1972 Datsun 240Z, +12m20s
Country Club Tasmania Showroom after Day 3
1. Simon Evans / Sue Evans, 2009 Mazda3 MPS, 23m37s
2. Gavin James / Tim Kulhanek, 2011 Renault Megane RS 250, +3m15s
3. Adam Spence / Tracey Button, 2007 BMW 130i, +11m37s
4. Adam Dodd / Lee Challoner-Miles, 2006 Mazda MX5, +12m22s
5. Andrew McKay / Hartley Sutcliffe, 2006 Mazda MX5, +20m08s
Pure Tasmania Early Modern after Day 3
1. Jeff Beable / Nerida Beable, 2000 Nissan Skyline GTR, 26m11s
2. Tim Hendy / Joanne Sibley, 1999 Nissan Skyline GTR, +1m05s
3. Ben Manion / Damien Roach, 1990 Nissan Skyline GTS-T, +2m42s
4. Danny Stutterd / Richard Scoular, 1999 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI, +3m31s
5. Samantha Stevens-Lemish / Daniel Lemish, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI, +3m46s
Shannons Early Classic Handicap after Day 3
1. Jon Siddins / Darren Ferguson, 1970 Datsun 240Z, 18m03s
2. Andrew White / Ashley Yelds, 1961 Volvo 122S, +15s
3. Colin Byrne / Paul Stoopman, 1971 Alfa Remeo GTV 1000, +1m33s
4. Peter Ullrich / Sari Ullrich, 1963 Jensen CV8, +5m51s
5. Donn Todd / Dean Tighe, 1971 Ford Capri Perana, +8m05s
Shannons Late Classic Handicap after Day 3
1. Rex Broadbent / Chris Randell, 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera RS, 21m446s
2. Ian Morris / Alex Molocznyk, 1981 Alfa Romeo GTV6, +3m30s
3. John Ireland / Michael Ribot, 1977 Porsche 911 Carrera 3, +3m31s
4. David Gilliver / Nigel Shellshear, 1979 Ferrari 308 GTB, +5m24s
5. Matthew Cardinaels / Damien Thomlinson, 1972 Datsun 240Z, +6m25s
TMR Performance 4WD Showroom after Day 3
1. Jamie Vandenberg / Eddie Maguire, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, 19m39s
2. Dean Evans / Matthew Harriott, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, +1m22s
3. Scott Millar / Christopher Dean, 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, +5m42s
4. Ben Newman / Crichton Lewis, 2010 Subaru WRX STI, +9m33s
5. John O'Dowd / John McCarthy, Subaru WRX STI, +13m09s
Shannons Vintage Rallye after Day 3
1. Wayne Clark / Roger Richardson, 1938 Dodge Speedster Special, 40m40s
2. Bill Griffiths / Peter Roberts, 1936 Roesch Talbot BG, +18m13s
3. Martin Wilson / Richard Wilson, 1934 Jaguar SS Special, +32m26s
Shannons Classic Florio Handicap after Day 3
1. Drew Kent / Ella Kent, 1971 Ford Falcon GT, 35m49s
2. Mac Russell / Marjorie Russell, 1976 Morgan Plus 8, +8m46s
3. Tim Bresnahan / Jason Bresnahan, 1985 Porsche 944, +8m58s
Targa Tasmania Regularity after Day 3
1. Phillip Frith / David Frith, 2010 Porsche Boxter S, 124 points
2. Peter Pisko / Lily Pisko, 2003 Nissan 350Z, +37 points
=3. Bill Gill / Kathy Gill, 2003 Porsche 911 Carrera, +47 points
=3. Martin Duursma / Guy Marlow, 2011 BMW M3, +47 points
*provisional
SUBSCRIBE BELOW TO READ THE FULL STORY
