"I can't fault it today," he said of his distinctive red and yellow GT-R. "It just ran as it probably should have all along and because of that I think I've been able to settle into driving it. As I built up confidence in the car I got a little bit braver and the times reflected it."
Inkster was a little more circumspect as he helped members of his crew repair the bumper he damaged in his off on Stage 19.
"We were pretty good through Kawhia Harbour (his first stage win of the day) considering the state of the tyres and we were always going to change them, but because the service at Waitomo was cut short we decided to leave them on for the short stage (Waitomo) after lunch.
"The tyres we had on the back were OK but the ones on the front weren't. I knew that, so I'm not blaming them (for the off-road excursion), it was my fault. To be fair though it (the corner he went off on) was pretty dodgy. It tightened up and I just didn't have enough grip at the front to keep me on the road."
As it turned out Inkster was not the only entrant to be caught out by it either.
Not long after, the father/daughter combination of Rick and Monroe Martin ended up in a fence only metres down the road from where Inkster and Winn performed their 'wall-of-death' act on the bank.
Behind the top three, the top six as this year's five-day Targa New Zealand event heads from Taupo to Palmerston North tomorrow is completed by Glenn Smith/Andy Lowe (Mitsubishi Evo 10), Steve Millen/Jen Horsey (Nissan GT-R35 and Rick and Joel Giddy (Subaru WRX).
Notable by his absence is Targa Rotorua winner Leigh Hopper and his co-driver Shaun Bawden in their Subaru WRX. The pair were in the hunt in Northland but crashed out of the event in spectacular style near the end of the Oparure stage late yesterday afternoon.
In the Metal Man Classic standings, meanwhile, Mark Kirk-Burnnand and his co-driver Dave O'Carroll (BMW M3) were back on top after making up the time on Day 2 winner Barry Kirk-Burnnand and his his co-driver Ron Wylie that he and O'Carroll lost on the second day when they were penalised for arriving late to the start of a stage.
Yesterday's wet and dry conditions proved the undoing of a number of drivers, but played into the hands of the Mark Kirk-Burnnand/Dave O'Carroll combination.
"To be honest, " said Mark, "a lot of today's choices were a gamble, but in saying that the difference was that I decided to go with the new wet tyre option whereas Barry stayed with the old wet/dry one. I did that because I thought that, bar the first or second stage or so, it was going to be wet today. It wasn't but we ran our wets anyway and I was definitely impressed with him in both wet and dry conditions."
After splitting the Kirk-Burnnand BMWs at the end of the second day Allan Lewis and Clive Cole (Datsun 240Z V8) have slipped back to third yesterday and they and fourth placed Toyota Levin pairing Geoff and James Harriman are now in the sights of hard-charging Brit Vincent Bristow and co-driver Jeff Ashfield in their RS1800 Escort.
Bristow was at his flamboyant best again today, he and Ashfield topping their class in the first four stages in a row and claiming two seconds and a third in three of the other four. In fact, had the pair not lost time on the first day replacing a clutch they could easily have been leading the Metal Man Classic category by now.
After an overnight stop in Taupo last night the Targa New Zealand event heads south to Waiouru, Taihape, Marton and eventually Palmerston North today before finishing with a day in the Hawke's Bay on Saturday.
Cure Kids is the official charity of Targa New Zealand and the 2011 Targa New Zealand tarmac rally is brought to you with the support of sponsors Allied Petroleum, APN, Britz, NZ Classic Car magazine, Federal motorsport tyres, Global Security, Instra Corporation, Meguiars, Metalman, Mobil1, NewsTalkZB, TeamTalk, TrackIt, VTNZ, and Woolrest Biomag, and the Hastings, Taupo and Whangarei District Councils.
RESULTS DAY 3 :
2011 Targa NZ tarmac motor rally
Instra.com Modern (Overall)
1. Tony Quinn / Naomi Tillett 2008 Nissan R35 GT-R 02:44:01
2. Glenn Inkster / Spencer Winn 2000 Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 6 02:44:27
3. Clark Proctor / Tony Callaghan 2008 Nissan GT-R35 02:46:12
4. Glenn Smith / Andy Lowe 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 02:46:47
5. Steve Millen / Jen Horsey 2008 Nissan Stillen GT-R 02:49:02
6. Rick Giddy / Joel Giddy 2003 Subaru WRX STI 02:53:11
7. Paul Halford / Andy Booth 2003 Maserati Trofeo 02:53:36
8. Harry Dodson / Glenn Cupit 2007 Nissan GT-R35 02:57:13
9. Kim Blatchley / David Free 1999 Subaru Impreza ra 02:58:39
10. Leigh Hopper / Shaun Bawden 2003 Subaru Impreza WRX Sti 01:25:21
Metal Man Classic
1. Mark Kirk-Burnnand / Dave O'Carroll 1987 BMW M3 03:02:43
2. Barry Kirk-Burnnand / Steven Kirk-Burnnand 1989 BMW M3 03:04:46
3. Allan Lewis / Colin Cole 1972 Datsun 240Z 03:11:23
4. Geoff Harriman / James Harriman 1984 Toyota Levin 03:13:37
5. Vincent Bristow / Jeff Ashfield 1975 Ford Escort RS 1800 03:14:04
6. Carl Kirk-Burnnand / Sam Gordon 1991 BMW 325i 03:16:10
7. Peter Jones / Neil Andrews 1974 Ford Escort MK1 Sport 03:17:13
8. Nicholas Cooper / Murrary Brown 1971 Chrysler Valiant Charger 03:19:49
9. Craig Pilet / Janine Pilet 1977 Holden Torana SS 03:20:20
10. Linden Bawden / Julie Bawden 1979 Ford Escort 01:27:52
