Competitors pushing in Day 3 of Lance East Exotics Tarmac West

The marathon day, Day 3 of Lance East Exotics Tarmac West today saw competitors drive a total distance of 450 kilometres, racing the clock over 120 competitive kilometres along 12 stages around Toodyay, Chittering and Bullsbrook.

It’s the biggest day of competition for drivers and co-drivers that consisted of fast, flowing stages and technical sections in the countryside east of Perth.

In rallying, the goal for every team is to finish faster than the rest, and today that was paramount to eliminate the risk that comes with needing to push on the shorter city stages during the finale tomorrow where clipping a kerb might end a rally.

Another perfect spring day drew locals and spectators out who lined the stages and spectator points to watch the rally action.

There was action on the roads and movement on the leaderboard, although the top remained the same.

In the T200 Category, Brett Morse in his 2019 BMW M2 with co-driver Rodney Ng extended their lead from 0:12 minutes to 2:25 minutes ahead of Heuson Bak and Roger Tan in their 2017 Lotus Exige.

Morse said he was happy with how today went.

“The plan was to go out hard in Toodyay in the morning and make everyone chase us, and the plan worked out, and then be able to conserve in the afternoon and maintain the lead,” Morse said.

“Today’s stages were excellent, very good, with lots of friendly faces and spectators waving, it’s great to see the locals out there watching.”

Sitting in second outright, Bak said today was an emotional rollercoaster with a huge moment that saw him back off a little.

“We were doing pretty well yesterday and felt good going into today, then, in Racecourse 2 (second stage of the day), we sent it hard and had a massive off, sliding sideways off into the dirt at 180 kilometres per hour,” Bak said.

“We were just two metres from an embankment that would’ve seen us roll the car – I can’t believe we didn’t roll actually and somehow I managed to save it and get the car back road, but it shook the confidence.

“We’re still in a good position and tomorrow is about keeping it consistent and hopefully bringing it home.”

In the third outright is the 2019 Tesla Model 3P+ driven by Jurgen Lunsmann and navigated by his wife Helen, 26 seconds behind Bak, and 3:18 minutes behind the leader Morse.

The classic car of Nathan Ellement, a 1985 Chevrolet Corvette C4, with rookie co-driver Stephen Mackinlay is fourth outright, 1:09 minutes behind the Telsa.

“We had a blinder of a morning, stirring up Heuson and Lunsmann and it was great fun and all going well until Bullsbrook,” Ellement said, referring to SS24, the fourth last stage of the day.

“We got off the line and a cylinder dropped, so we ran four stages on seven cylinders instead of eight. We’ve fixed it now, it was just a broken wire.

“To be in a 39-year-old car and sitting in fourth outright is pretty amazing, and we’ll see what tomorrow brings. Will’s car is an absolute missile and has a lot more horsepower and tech than ours so I think he’ll be unstoppable.”

Ellement is leading the Classic category by 5:31 minutes, and if he completes tomorrow without incident, will win that category. Whether he can hold onto fourth outright is another story with Will White just 5 seconds behind.

Will White in his 2018 Nissan GTR Nismo with Matthew Thompson started Day 3 in 12th outright after losing time with an intercooling pipe issue on Day 2.

White pushed hard today, climbing the leaderboard, winning nine of the day’s 12 stages.

“Today was just heaven in a race car on the longer stages,” said White.

“We had a crack and had a couple of really good stages but one hurt, the gear box went into limp mode and overheated, it was too much and we lost some time.

“I’ll be bringing it on tomorrow and see where we end up, put it this way, I’m leaving nothing on the plate, I’m licking it clean,” said White, owner of Dardanup Removals.

Starting the day in fourth outright full of promise but ending in 13th was Tarmac West rookie Mark Cirillo in his 2022 Toyota Supra with co-driver Adrian Burney.

Cirillo said he was gutted.

“The drive belt snapped with the heat in the engine bay right at the end of the stage before Maryville downs (SS21, the sixth stage of the day), then the power went off, and we almost got it back, then the isolator broke – that’s motorsport,” Cirillo said.

“I’ve been loving it and I’ve learnt a tonne – it’s a huge event and far more hectic than I thought, I wouldn’t want to be organising it, well done Ross!” he said, referring to event director Ross Tapper.

Cirillo has raced in various circuit disciplines including Formula Ford, Porsche GT3 Cup and in a few rallysprints at Motorplex.

“I’ve never done anything like this, it’s so fun, I did have to convince Ross to let me compete in the T200 and he agreed as long as I had an experienced co-driver and Adrian has been an absolute jet, really helpful,” said the 40-year-old owner of Metro Glass.

In the T165 Class, Aaron Williams and co-driver Geoff Duckworth remain at the top of the table in their 2002 Mitsubishi Evo 7, 1:13 minutes faster than David and Anna Hodges in their 2013 Holden VF SSV.

Williams won three of today’s 12 stages and it was the 1983 Holden VH SS Commodore of Tim Wright with co-driver Greg Allen who won the rest.

Despite the blistering pace, Wright isn’t in contention for a podium and sits in 10th place on the T165 leaderboard.

Tomorrow (Sunday 15 September) is the fourth and final day that starts with fast morning stages around Malaga before the Lance East Exotics Tarmac West competitors move to the City of Perth for finale around Langley Park along Riverside Drive and the Terrace Road Car Park.

The street action in the city starts early morning with a stand-alone Sprint competition from 9.30am.

There’s action on and off the track as Langley Park transforms to a motoring Mecca at the Celebration of Motorsport, and the Celebration of Hot Rods and Street Machines, while the Shannons Classic on the Swan will be displayed across the road, along the banks of the river.

Event Director Ross Tapper encourages everyone to come to Langley Park.

“There’ll be over 400 stunning cars on display from classics to exotics plus monster bus rides for the kids, helicopter rides, remote control cars entertainment and more,” Tapper said.

“Seeing cars on display is great, but it’s incredible to see and hear their thumping engines – there’ll be about 100 cars driving in convoy through the city in our new Sunday Cruise.”

From 12pm, spectators can watch hot rods and street machines cruise along Barrack Street, Wellington Street, William Street, St Georges Terrace, Adelaide Terrace and Bennet Street.

It’s all free.

For more information including spectator maps, visit tarmacevents.com.au/our-events/tarmac-west/.