Devonport’s Jason White looks set to take a sixth Targa Tasmania title after stamping his authority on the event from Strahan to Hobart.
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Driving his Dodge Viper ACR Extreme, White finished the day with a sizeable overall lead of one minute and seven seconds clear after six stages on day five.
Michael Pritchard put in an incredible drive in his Dodge Viper to move ahead of Matt Close’s Porsche GT2 in the battle for second place
The pair are separated by just 17 seconds.
Competitors left Strahan on the penultimate day and embarked on the gruelling 33-kilometre to Queenstown, which was followed by the 53km Mount Arrowsmith journey – the event's longest competitive stage.
“We may have to watch out for the battle behind us with Matt and Mike – they’re going like cut cats,” White said.
“We’ll still have to maintain a bit of pace, but a minute is a good gap.
“I thought we were going fast on Mount Arrowsmith and doing enough to keep Matt Close at bay, but we were astonished to hear Mike Pritchard was 0:40 faster.”
Things remained unchanged in the GT4 competition for modern four-wheel drive cars with Nissan driver Angus Kennard extending his lead to 6:30.
Jon Siddins’ has a stranglehold on the GT competition in his 1970 Datsun 240Z, but sits 10th overall.
Former classic winner Craig Haysman (1979 Triumph TR7 V8) has been no match for Siddins and now trails by nearly 8:00.
In the classic handicap, Peter Ullrich dominated the day in his 1963 Jensen CV8 and holds more than a 6:00 advantage over the Ferrari of David Gilliver.
Adam Kaplan is 2:30 ahead of Jon Mitchell (Subaru) in the early modern class, Jeff Morton leads GT Sports Trophy in his Lotus Exige, and brothers Darryl and Peter Marshall continues to head the TSD Trophy.
The final day of Targa Tasmania is a short one, with just 66 kilometres across six competitive stages.
The event finishes with a podium presentation at Princess Wharf No. 1 about 1pm.
OVERALL TOP 5
- Jason White/John White
- Michael Pritchard/Gary Mourant +1m07s
- Matt Close/Cameron Reeves +1m24s
- Paul Stokell/Jenny Cole +6m35s
- Angus Kennard/Ian Wheeler +7m41s