Queensland-based Nissan GT-R driver Tony Quinn and Kiwi rally driver Glenn Inkster are fighting for the front after day one of this year's Targa rally.
Defedning champ Quinn and co-driver Naomi Tillet are enjoying a 14-second lead heading into day two, as the event heads for Wellsford and Whangarei.
Heading north for the first time in its 17-year history yesterday, the event took in stages from Taupaki and Waimauku on Auckland's North West urban fringe before crossing from the west to the east coast via the demanding Woodcocks stage across West Coast Rd to Wellsford then north again for stages in and around Whangarei.
Quinn and Tillett led home a Nissan GT-R 1-2-3 in the Instra.com Modern competition category on the first stage with Inkster and Winn fourth and US-based expat Steve Millen and his co-driver Jen Horsey in their GTR-35 fifth but Inkster storming through on the longer, more open second stage to slot in between the Quinn/Tillett and Proctor/Callaghan GT-R35s for second.
Inkster then won the Woodcocks, Kaiwaka and Doctors Hill stages in lower Northland from Quinn and Tillett with the Proctor/Callaghan GT-R35 third in Stage 3 but recent Targa Rotorua winner Leigh Hopper and Shaun Bawden third in Stage 4 in their Subaru Impreza and Proctor - by this stage suffering brake and wheel problems - back in sixth place.
Hopper and Bawden were again second to Inkster and Winn in Stage 5 with the Taranaki pairing of Glenn Smith and Andy Lowe third in their Mitsubishi Evo 10.
Quinn and Tillett slipped back to fifth in that stage but stormed back to win the sixth from Smith and Lowe, Inkster and Winn, Millen and Horsey and Hopper and Bawden.
Inkster and Winn were back in second place at the end of Stage 7 at Hikerenui, covering the 29.41 kms just five seconds slower than Quinn and Tillett and that's the way the order stayed at the end of the first day after the final stage, Stage 8 north of Whangarei was closed after an accident.
A little further down the order the Metal Man Classic category proved to be another battle ground for members of the extended Kirk-Burnnand family with Mark and co-driver Dave O'Carrol (BMW M3) ended up at the top of the time sheets at the end of the day with a 48 second lead over Barry and Steven Kirk-Burnnand (also BMW M3-mounted.
Third was the Chevrolet V8-engined Datsun 240Z of Allan Lewis and Colin Cole, fourth the Toyota Levin of Geoff and James Harriman.
Like any first day this one had its fair share of hard luck stories, with the Porsche 944 of Richard Haakma and Teddy Ross breaking a clutch in the fist special stage and the Subaru Legacy of Vivien Eden and Steve King running a big end bearing soon after.
The newly rebuilt Toyota Corolla of Dion Arnold and Lani McIsaac was also a victim of clutch problems before the second stage had started.
Accidents, meanwhile, claimed not one but two BMW E30s in the Woodcocks stage with the 325i of David Langford-Smith and Alan Hind ended up down a bank near the summit and the 318i of Gordon Legge and Jeffrey Storey off the road a little later after smashing a sump the spinning down the road in the car's own oil.
Incredibly a local tractor mechanic was on duty just metres down the road and Legge and Storey were able to re-join the rally later on in the day after the sump was repaired by the proprietor's son.
After showing an impressive turn of pace early on the V8-engined Toyota Hilux ute of Taranaki pair of Stuart Rose and Gary Renall ended up stranded with a broken driveshaft coupling.
Today sees six more stages in and around Whangarei before the event heads south to eventually end up in Takanini.
On Thursday the events heads south through the Waikato and central North Island before an overnight stop in Taupo. On Friday it continues through the lower North Island to Palmerston North then on Saturday crosses into Hawkes Bay for a final run to the finish in Havelock North.
