Relishing the extra grip the tarmac provided, Inkster and co-driver Spencer Winn shadowed the GT-Rs of Quinn, Proctor and expat Kiwi race and rally veteran Steven Millen on the first day before leapfrogging Millen and Proctor to move into third.
At the end of that day Inkster was 4min 30sec behind Quinn, by the end of day four they had reduced the deficit to 3min 30sec and by the time they got to the finish line in Wellington the gap was down to just 2min 28sec.
Not bad for a first attempt at the event and since winning the two-day Targa Bambina in March, and being an early pacesetter before blowing a turbo at the two-day Targa Rotorua in June, Inkster is in an even better position to take the battle to Quinn this time around.
"Is Tony beatable? Absolutely," said Inkster. "Everybody is. Tony is an exceptional driver, there is no doubt about that, but I've learned so much about driving on tarmac since last year's event and I think that will be the key this year.
"Last year Tony and Clark were unbelievably quick on the first day, they absolutely smoked us, but since then I have learned a lot more about what a Targa is all about. It's a road race in the truest sense of the word and as such is very different to a rally and because of that it requires a slightly different style of driving."
Having matched Quinn in two very different cars in the past two Targa New Zealand events, Proctor is also absolutely adamant Quinn can be beaten this year.
"It would be a pleasure to finally do so," said Proctor. "Tony is clearly the favourite, and because he's racing something nearly every weekend, he'll be more race-fit than me. But look, he still pulls his pants on one leg at a time so the answer to the question 'is he beatable' is definitely yes."
Something that concerns both Quinn and Proctor, however, is the question mark over the ultimate reliability of the hi-tech, high performance GT-R coupes the pair drive. They have struck mechanical problems at both two-day Targa Bambina (gearbox) and Targa Rotorua (driveshaft) events. Proctor has also struggled with reliability with his GT-R in those events and in his debut drive in the six-day Targa New Zealand event last year.
"To be fair, the guys with GT-Rs have struggled a bit of late with reliability issues," said Inkster. "Nothing's bulletproof, we found that out for ourselves at Rotorua, but compared to the GT-Rs our Mitsubishi Evo 6 is quite a simple car, so there's less to go wrong for a start."
Predicting a likely winner in the Metalman-sponsored Classic section is slightly easier, 2010 winner Neil Tolich relinquishing driving duties this year in favour of a co-driving spot in fellow Aucklander Mike Sexton's BMW E 36 M3 which competes in the Modern competition.
The earlier model E30 M3 is the popular choice among Classic category competitors, the matching cars of family members Mark and Chris (son and father) and Barry and Steve (father and son) Kirk-Burnnand never far from the front of the field in either the two-day Bambina and Rotorua or six-day Targa New Zealand events in recent years.
Competitors will travel through 37 special stages for a total of 745.9 competition and 1478 touring kilometres with special stage length varying from the short 8.5km Whatawhata stage to the marathon 51.3km of the Rangitoto/Otewa stage.
Most of the stages are new thanks to the organisers deciding to head north to Whangarei at the start before returning south to Auckland, Taupo, Palmerston North and Havelock North.
Cure Kids is again the official charity of the event and if this year's target of $50,000 is reached Targa NZ events will have raised $500,000 for the charity since 2002.
