Tasmanian driver Jason White has won Supaloc Targa Adelaide at his first attempt, driving his 2011 Lamborghini Gallardo to a comfortable victory after four days and 28 stages of tarmac rallying.

The reigning CAMS Australian Targa Champion took out the first round of the 2012/2013 series, heading home the Nissan GT-R of Tony Quinn by 25 seconds, with another Nissan GT-R, driven by Peter Rullo in third place.

South Australian driver, Craig Haysman, dominated the Shannons Classic Outright competition in his 1981 Triumph TR7 V8, finishing one minute and 15 seconds clear of Nick Streckeisen’s 1985 Porsche 944 Turbo.

The final day of Supaloc Targa Adelaide saw competitors tackle three stages in dry conditions. With a lead of 44 seconds heading into the day, White was able to hold off a fast-finishing Quinn in order to secure victory.

It is White’s fourth victory in a row, having won the previous three Targa events, and confirms him as Australia’s leading Targa rally driver.

“Today wasn’t too bad, although I’m glad there wasn’t anymore dry running as our tyres had nearly had it,” White said.

“We chose a medium compound tyre for this event and they didn’t like the dry at all – especially Gorge Road where there’s some really long corners and the tyres don’t get a rest.

“But we’re very happy to get to the finish and it’s good to get a win away from home.

“The event was brilliant and everything was very well organised. The stages were absolutely brilliant – particularly the Basket Range and Gorge Road tests.

“We’ve got a few things to work out with some electrical gremlins, but we think we might have got on top of those today, and hopefully we’ll have it all sorted before Targa High Country.”

Quinn pushed hard over the final day, but in the end he ran out of stage distance and had to settle for second place, less than half a minute behind.

Rullo was a further three minutes behind, followed by the Mitsubishi Lancer of South Australian, Andrew Burnard, and Peter Leemhuis’ Nissan GT-R.

In Classic Outright, Craig Haysman and Neil Branum gave their new Triumph TR7 its perfect debut event.

“The car’s been great,” Haysman said. “It’s totally different to the car I drove last year. It’s a lot easier to drive in the wet and just has more power and more balance.”

With Nick Streckeisen second and Roger Paterson third, it was a clean sweep for the South Australians on the podium.

Bill Brentzell’s 1965 Shelby GT350 won by nearly four minutes in the Shannons Early Classic Handicap section, and Nick Streckeisen finished 35 seconds clear in Late Classic.

Adelaide’s Tim Possingham was in a class of his own, winning Early Modern, and Greg Burrowes made the trip from Queensland worthwhile with victory in the Showroom 4WD class.

Glyn Crimp (Showroom) and Neill Ford (Showroom Sports) won their respective classes, while John Goodall and Graham Palich (Porsche Cayman) were the stand-out crew in the Regularity class.

The next round of the CAMS Australian Targa Championship is Victoria’s Targa High Country, to be run out of Mt Buller from November 9-11.

SUPLOC MODERN
1. Jason White / John White, 2011 Lamborghini Gallardo, 22m24s
2. Tony Quinn / Naomi Tillett, 2011 Nissan GT-R, +25s
3. Peter Rullo / Simon Iseppi 2012 Nissan GT-R, +3m30s
4. Andrew Burnard / Tim Magarch, 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII, +9m07s
5. Peter Leemhius / Ben Fitzsimons, 2008 Nissan GT-R, +11m50s

SHANNONS CLASSIC OUTRIGHT
1. Craig Haysman / Neil Branum, 1981 Triumph TR7 V8, 34m11s
2. Nick Streckeisen / Mike Dale, 1985 Porsche 944 Turbo, +1m15s
3. Roger Paterson / Paul Whatnell, 1974 Porsche 911 RS, +1m43s
4. Barry Faux / Therezia Mihajlovic, 1979 Mazda RX7, +1m50s
5. Donn Todd / Dean Tighe, 1971 Ford Capri Perana, +2m31s

SHANNONS EARLY CLASSIC HANDICAP
1. Bill Brentzell / Karien Heimsohn, 1965 Shelby GT350, 31m21s
2. Rob Black / Vivek Ponnusamy, 1971 Porsche 911 S, +3m53s
3. Andrew Bryson / Craig Milich, 1964 Hillman Imp Rallye, +4m02s
4. Donn Todd / Dean Tighe, 1971 Ford Capri Perana, +4m11s
3. Richard Woodward / Neil Gibson, 1969 Holden Monaro GTS, +4m21s

SHANNONS LATE CLASSIC HANDICAP
1. Nick Streckeisen / Mike Dale, 1985 Porsche 944 Turbo, 28m39s
2. Barry Faux / Therezia Mihajlovic, 1979 Mazda RX7, +35s
3. Bruce Power / Ray Baker, 1979 Mazda RX7, +59s
4. Roger Paterson / Paul Whatnell, 1974 Porsche 911 RS, +2m24s
5. Craig Haysman / Neil Branum, 1981 Triumph TR7 V8, +2m28s

SUPALOC EARLY MODERN
1. Tim Possingham / Ben Scott, 1990 Nissan Skyline GT-R, 30m21s
2. Adam Kaplan / David Kaplan, 1988 Holden Commodore HSV, +5m37s
3. Andre Lukasz / Adam Tillett, 1994 Nissan 200 SX, +5m44s
4. Andrew Booker / Chris Edmonson, 1990 Nissan 180 SX, +8m47s
5. Richard Perini / Chris Perini, 2000 Porsche 911 GT3, +9m31s

SUPALOC SHOWROOM 4WD
1. Greg Burrowes / Rhonda Burrowes, 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, 38m20s
2. Michael Flood / Nathan Green, 2012 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, +2m15s
4. Allan Mair / Michelle Mair, 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, +9m51s

SUPALOC SHOWROOM
1. Glyn Crimp / Paul van der Mey, 2010 Ford Focus RS, 45m32s

SUPALOC SHOWROOM SPORTS
1. Neill Ford / Nathalie Ford, 2007 Chevrolet Corvette Z06, 41m51s

RDA BRAKES REGULARITY
1. John Goodall / Graham Palich, 2009 Porsche Cayman, 308 points
2. Richard Davis / Bill Best, 2008 HSV W427, 366 points
3. Graeme Lowe / Gordon Elley, 1983 Porsche 911, Turbo

Local knowledge has paid a big part in Adelaide Hills resident, Tim Possingham, taking victory in the Early Modern competition at Supaloc Targa Adelaide.

Possingham and co-driver, Ben Scott, drove their 1990 Nissan Skyline GT-R Nismo N1 to an incredible win, nearly six minutes ahead of Adam Kaplan’s 1988 Holden Commodore HSV.

In third place was the 1994 Nissan 200 SX of Andrew Lukasz.

“Local knowledge has been pretty important here because I live in the Adelaide Hills and I spend a lot of time doing recce, although I haven’t done as much as in the past because of work commitments. But yes, local knowledge definitely helps,” Possingham said.

“Things went really well for the first day or so. The car felt amazing, certainly a lot better than it was last year,” Possingham said.

“But then we suffered a front diff problem and had to replace that on Friday night. After that the car didn’t really turn in as well as it had before, but at the same time the stage times were okay and we haven’t needed to do much more than just stay on the road because we’d got most of our lead on the first couple of days.

“We’ve haven’t had to push that hard at all, but it’s been quite enjoyable. I normally put a big safety margin into my driving anyway, and having a big lead meant that we didn’t have to take any risks.

“It’s been really enjoyable and to see the crowds lining the stages has been great fun.”

A newly-purchased 1981 Triumph TR7 V8 proved to be just the machine for the twisting stages, as Craig Haysman and Neil Branum took a one minute 15 second victory in the Shannons Late Classic competition.

The leading cars retained their places over the final day’s three stages, with Nick Streckeisen (Porsche) and Roger Paterson (Porsche) filling second and third place.

Barry Faux’s Mazda RX7 and Donn Todd, in his Ford Capri Perana, filled fourth and fifth places.

“The car’s been great. It’s totally different to last year’s car. It’s a lot easier to drive in the wet and just has more power and more balance,” Haysman said.

“We destroyed one tyre one Friday when we hit an Armco barrier, but other than that everything’s gone great.”

Craig Haysman’s new car took him to the Late Classic Handicap win.

Queensland driver, Bill Brentzell, and his co-driver, Karien Heimsohn, were the class of the field in the Shannons Early Classic Handicap section of Supaloc Targa Adelaide.

They drove their 1965 Shelby GT350 to a three minute 53 second victory over the 1971 Porsche 911 S of Rob Black and Vivek Ponnusamy, with Andrew Bryson and Craig Milich third in their 1964 Hillman Imp Rallye.

“The car performed really well in the wet conditions, and all we’ve had to do during the event is put petrol in it and check the tyres,” Brentzell explained.

“We had a really good run on the Norton Summit stage yesterday afternoon. We caught and passed a Porsche that started a minute in front of us, and finished right behind a Monaro, so it was lots of fun.

“I’d love to do the next round of the championship, but that all depends if I can get the time off.”

The next round of the CAMS Australian Targa Championship is Targa High Country, in Victoria, in November.

Bill Brentzell won the Early Modern class.

Queenslanders Greg and Rhonda Burrowes have won the Showroom 4WD competition at Supaloc Targa Adelaide after a dominant performance in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X.

The husband and wife team led home the Mitsubishis of Michael Flood / Nathan Green and Allan and Michelle Mair, and are now looking ahead to the next round of the championship, Targa High Country, in Victoria.

“We’ve had a great event and everything has gone to plan,” the Queenslander said.

“It’s a long way to come from Queensland, but we came to support the event and we’re so glad we did. It’s been a great event, and Adelaide and the show grounds is a really high class location to hold it.

“The first couple of days were pretty hair-raising in the wet conditions, but we just drove as fast as we were comfortable with.

“We won the 2011 Australian Targa Championship, but had an engine failure in the 2011/2012 series, so winning here in Adelaide is a great start to this year’s campaign.”

Showroom 4WD winner Greg Burrowes

John Goodall and Graham Palich took out the Regularity class in their 2009 Porsche 911, finishing 58 points clear of their nearest challenger after four tough days.

Richard Davis and Bill Best were second in their 2008 HSV W427, with the 1983 Porsche 911 turbo of Graeme Lowe and Gordon Elley third.

“The Porsche has performed really well and we’ve had no problems,” Goodall said.

“It’s been a really enjoyable event and we’ve loved the competition with the other teams in Regularity.

“It was great to finally have some dry roads today, and we made the most of it.”

Regularity teams are limited to a top speed of 130km/h, and must average a pre-determined speed over every stage. They receive penalties if they do not meet their target time.

At the end of the final stage, Jason White has won Supaloc Targa Adelaide by 25 seconds from Tony Quinn, with Peter Rullo third.

Craig Haysman has taken Classic Outright honours after a dominant drive.

Congratulations to all the finishers. We’ll have reports on all classes on TargaLive shortly.

Only one stage to go and Jason White leads Tony Quinn by 30 seconds, with Peter Rullo third, 3m32s from the lead.

There’s just the 10 Echunga stage still to be completed.

Car 645, the 1985 Jaguar XJS of Geoff Bott and Brian Foster, has retired with head gasket failure on the Gorge Road stage. Bad luck guys.

Tony Quinn has won the first stage of the day, taking eight seconds off Jason White’s lead, which has been reduced to 36 seconds.

Steve Glenney was second quickest on the stage, two seconds behind Quinn.

Peter Rullo remains third, ahead of Andrew Burnarnd and Peter Leemhuis.