Late charge gives Auckland pair a Targa Hawke's Bay Rally win

Targa Rally driver John Thomson and co-pilot Elizabeth Thomson navigate their BMW 135 around a stretch of Tukituki road in Havelock North. Photo / Paul Taylor

Aucklanders Steven Kirk-Burnnand and co-driver Mike Hay finished the Targa Hawke's Bay Rally todayin dramatic fashion, bouncing back from third to take top spot as Hawke's Bay's challenging rural roads threw up a day of surprises.

The pair, in Kirk-Burnnand's BMW 318ti, started the day in third place overall, two seconds behind the leader Nick De Waal and co-driver Shane Reynolds (Subaru Impreza WX STi).

However, the Subaru had to retire from the race after suffering mechanical issues, leaving the Aucklanders a free run to leapfrog Martin Dippie and his co-driver, Jona Grant, in Dippie's late model Porsche GT3 RS.

Just 24 hours earlier it looked to be a two-horse race between the Subaru and the Porsche, with Dippie just 17.5 seconds off De Waal's pace after a six-stage stretch comprising just over 157kms.

Heading into the final 37.34km Argyle Rd/Raukawa Rd stage on the way back to Havelock North former Targa New Zealand event winners Dippie and Grant, from Dunedin, enjoyed a 3 min 20.7 lead over Kirk-Burnnand and Hay.

But, with Dippie looking odds on to stay on top with just minutes to go, he "had an off", leaving Kirk-Burnnand to claim top spot with a winning margin of a minute and a half.

Dippie and Grant were not the only high-profile pair to end their event off the road.

Earlier in the day top local pair Ivan Knauf and Trevor Corbin (Subaru Impreza WRX) crashed out of fourth place on the very first stage from Waimarama back to Havelock North, while later on Tauranga pair Simon and Sita Clark (BMW M3) lost what looked like a sure spot in the top six with a similar car-bending off in the fourth stage.

One of the pre-event favourites, Mitsubishi Evo 9 pair Jason Gill and Duncan Robinson, from Auckland, didn't even make it that far, their event ending with a roll on Saturday.

In fact the make-up of the final top 10 bore little resemblance to that at the end of the first and second days.