Having led for all but one of this year’s 35 stages, the 2016 Dodge Viper ACR Extreme crew gave their rivals a masterclass, and while they lost some time on the final day, they eventually run out winners by 34 seconds over Michael Pritchard and Gary Mourant.

Day six saw competitors tackle six stages in dry conditions South of Hobart.

White was pushed hard by Pritchard but he had big enough buffer from the opening five days to conserve his car and tyres to the finish line.

Reigning champions Matt Close and Cameron Reeves could not quite match the overall speed of the Dodges and had to settle for third place overall, one minute 16 seconds behind.

White, Pritchard and Close also filled the GT2 competition podium.

“We were just so lucky with the way it all played out – it was just incredible,” Jason said.

“We had to replace a diff after day one – you only get one opportunity to work on your car and we used ours up very early, but we were just so lucky it happened after the George Town street stage, otherwise we would have been stranded somewhere in the wilderness with a broken diff.

“I’ve done Targa 20 times and we’ve won it six times and had it taken away from us when we were leading as many times, so luck does play a part and you can never feel like you’ve got it in the bag.

“We’re well aware of how cruel Targa can be, so you never count your chickens until you’re at the finish, so it’s a great feeling this year, I can tell you.

“John (co-driver) is keen to keep going until he turns 70, but I think he’d like to equal Jim Richards’ record of eight wins and maybe go one more.”