Reigning CAMS Australian Targa Champion, Tasmanian Jason White, has increased his lead to 44 seconds after the third day of competition in Supaloc Targa Adelaide.

After 24 competitive stages across three days, White’s Lamborghini Gallardo continues to hold the advantage over the Nissan GT-R of Tony Quinn, with West Australian, Peter Rullo, in third place in another Nissan.

South Australian, Craig Haysman, leads the Classic Outright competition in his 1981 Triumph TR7 V8, one minute and 16 secconds clear of the 1985 Porsche 944 Turbo of fellow local, Nick Streckeisen.

Day three of Supaloc Targa Adelaide saw crews contesting eight tarmac stages covering a distance 40 kilometres to the north of Adelaide, the longest of which was the popular Norton Summit test, at a distance of nine kilometres.

White started the day 40 seconds ahead of Quinn, and after the day’s first four stages he had increased the margin to 43 seconds. He increased this by a further second during the afternoon, despite driving the last stage in the rain.

“The day wasn’t too bad, apart from a couple of stages where it was quite wet,” White said.

“Quinny was quite a few cars ahead of us this afternoon and had better road conditions and made the best of it. But I had a real crack on the Norton Summit stage, had it right on the limit and had a good bit of fun down there.

“Our electrical problems aren’t hampering us too much, but it’s very un-nerving because you don’t know when a problem might surface.”

White also made sure that he conserved his tyres as much as possible during the day. His medium compound rubber was more susceptible than Quinn’s hards in the drier conditions.

“In the dry the mediums aren’t as consistent as the hards that we usually run, and they tend to squirm around a bit. We’ve tried not to work them too much just in case it’s dry tomorrow.

“If that’s the case we’ll need all the grip we can get.”

Quinn drove hard, intent on reducing the gap to the rally leader and putting himself in with a winning chance on the final day.

Third placed Peter Rullo has already blown two gearboxes in his Nissan GT-R, but battled on in third place, albeit over two-and-a-half minutes behind Quinn.

Andrew Burnard lies in fourth in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII, with another Nissan GT-R, in the hands of Peter Leemhuis, fifth.

Shannons Classic Outright leader, Craig Haysman, looks set for victory after extending his lead in the category to one minute and 16 seconds.

“We had a good day,” Haysman said. “The car’s fine – totally different than last year’s car. It’s a lot easier to drive in the wet and just has more power and more balance.

“Tomorrow’s job is to just keep it on the road. The wet has helped with tyre wear and it (the car) doesn’t use them in the wet. We noticed this arvo that the got really hot really quickly, but the times were fantastic.

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

Streckeisen looks set to hold second ahead of fellow South Australian, Roger Paterson, in a Porsche. Early leader, Barry Faux, dropped back to fourth place after hitting an earth bank in his 1985 Mazda RX7 and losing time.

Bill Brentzell’s thundering 1965 Shelby GT350 leads the way in the Shannons Early Classic Handicap section, and Nick Streckeisen has a 26 second lead in the Late Classic competition.

Adelaide’s Tim Possingham continues to dominate the field in the Early Modern class, with his Nissan Skyline GT-R now nearly six minutes clear of Andre Lukasz’s Nissan 200 SX, and for the third straight day, Greg Burrowes heads the Showroom 4WD class in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X.

Glyn Crimp (Showroom) and Neill Ford (Showroom Sports) continue to lead their respective classes, as does John Goodall (Porsche Cayman) in Regularity.

The final day of Supaloc Targa Adelaide will see a further four stages, over a competitive distance of 41 kilometres, before the finish back in Adelaide’s Gouger Street at around 2pm.

Supaloc Targa Adelaide
Results after Day 3

SUPLOC MODERN
1. Jason White / John White, 2011 Lamborghini Gallardo, 19m26s
2. Tony Quinn / Naomi Tillett, 2011 Nissan GT-R, +44s
3. Peter Rullo / Simon Iseppi, 2012 Nissan GT-R, +3m21s
4. Andrew Burnard / Tim Magarch, 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII, +7m43s
5. Peter Leemhuis / Ben Fitzsimons, 2008 Nissan GT-R, +10m36s

SHANNONS CLASSIC OUTRIGHT
1. Craig Haysman / Neil Branum, 1981 Triumph TR7 V8, 29m41s
2. Nick Streckeisen / Mike Dale, 1985 Porsche 944 Turbo, +1m16s
3. Roger Paterson / Paul Whatnell, 1974 Porsche 911 RS, +1m40s
4. Barry Faux / Therezia Mihajlovic, 1979 Mazda RX7, +1m42s
5. Donn Todd / Dean Tighe, 1971 Ford Capri Perana, +2m38s

SHANNONS EARLY CLASSIC HANDICAP
1. Bill Brentzell / Karien Heimsohn, 1965 Shelby GT350, 27m28s
2. Rob Black / Vivek Ponnusamy, 1971 Porsche 911 S, +3m11s
3. Richard Woodward / Neil Gibson, 1969 Holden Monaro GTS, +3m43s
4. Donn Todd / Dean Tighe, 1971 Ford Capri Perana, +3m52s
5. Andrew Bryson / Craig Milich, 1964 Hillman Imp Rallye, +3m58s

SHANNONS LATE CLASSIC HANDICAP
1. Nick Streckeisen / Mike Dale, 1985 Porsche 944 Turbo, 25m14s
2. Barry Faux / Therezia Mihajlovic, 1979 Mazda RX7, +26s
3. Bruce Power / Ray Baker, 1979 Mazda RX7, 28s
4. Craig Haysman / Neil Branum, 1981 Triumph TR7 V8, +1m51s
5. Roger Paterson / Paul Whatnell, 1974 Porsche 911 RS, +2m01s

SUPALOC EARLY MODERN
1. Tim Possingham / Ben Scott, 1990 Nissan Skyline GT-R, 19m55s
2. Andre Lukasz / Adam Tillett, 1994 Nissan 200 SX, +5m59s
3. Adam Kaplan / David Kaplan, 1988 Holden Commodore HSV, +6m08s
4. Charles Nott / Henry Nott, 1998 TVR Chimaera, +9m06s
5. Richard Perini / Chris Perini, 2000 Porsche 911 GT3, +9m51s

SUPALOC SHOWROOM 4WD
1. Greg Burrowes / Rhonda Burrowes, 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, 32m53s
2. Michael Flood / Nathan Green, 2012 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, +2m35s
4. Allan Mair / Michelle Mair, 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, +8m43s

SUPALOC SHOWROOM
1. Glyn Crimp / Paul van der Mey, 2010 Ford Focus RS, 35m02s

SUPALOC SHOWROOM SPORTS
1. Neill Ford / Nathalie Ford, 2007 Chevrolet Corvette Z06, 36m46s

RDA BRAKES REGULARITY
1. John Goodall / Graham Palich, 2009 Porsche Cayman, 278 points
2. Richard Davis / Bill Best, 2008 HSV W427, 313 points
3. Graeme Lowe / Gordon Elley, 1983 Porsche 911, Turbo, 591 points