Known as the marathon day, Day 3 of Lance East Exotics Tarmac West is the longest and most challenging day of the four-day rally.

Competitors raced the clock on closed roads in Toodyay, Maryville Downs and Bullsbrook about an hour and half east of Perth.

There were 12 stages and 120 competitive kilometres scheduled for today, and nine stages were completed. Stages 24 (Maryville 2, 18.74km), 26 (Bullsbrook Long 1, 11.31km), and 28 (Bullsbrook Long 2, 11.31km) were cancelled after incidents, reducing the competitive kilometres to 78.64 kilometres.

This morning, 54 competitors started and by the day’s end, 46 finished (TSD competitors are not counted).

This was the day to finish in the best possible position before tomorrow’s tight and technical street stages in Malaga and the City of Perth, both with car-damaging kerbs that can end a rally.

We have a new leader in the open class, Competition T200.

Peter Rullo and co-driver Steve Glenney won every stage of the Day 3 of Lance East Exotics Tarmac West in their Porsche 992 RGT, the only car of its kind in Australia and the 15th Porsche 996 RGT ever made.

Rullo said his car is not the most powerful in the field as it’s naturally aspirated with no turbo and not supercharged, but it does have race car suspension so can hold more corner speed.

“Today all went to plan. Yesterday didn’t with a mishap at the Zig Zag, where we lost about 40 seconds,” Rullo said.

“I think we should be competitive in Malaga tomorrow morning. The city stage will probably suit the Lotus better, but hopefully we don’t lose too much time, or at least not 16 seconds.”

Rullo and Glenney finished Day 3 on top of the outright leaderboard by 16.9 seconds.

Heuson Bak and Roger Tan in their 2017 Lotus Exige S 350 started the day leading the T200 class by 40.6 seconds but Rullo and Glenney chipped away at every stage gaining vital seconds until taking the lead after SS23 Maryville Downs 1.

Bak and Tan finished the day in second place, 16.9 seconds behind Rullo and 1:51 minutes ahead of Matthew O’Neill and co-driver Michael Lloyd in their 2006 Subaru WRX STI Spec C.

Will White and Matt Thompson finished second fastest time on the first six stages in their Nissan R35 GTR, within 0.1 seconds of Rullo on SS19 and 0.2 seconds on SS22.

They were running third when they had an incident on SS23. Both crew are OK, with Thompson taken to hospital for precautionary checks.

“I want to say thanks and give credit to the medics on the scene – they were calm, helpful, and friendly, our hats off to them,” White said.

O’Neill and Lloyd moved up to third place by default to finish the day 2:08 minutes off the leading pace.

In the T185 category, introduced this year for modified classics, Byron Ellement and Dean McIardy took a clean sweep winning all nine stages in their 1964 Ford Anglia. Their leading margin over Mike Doyle and Brett Hale in a 1991 Subaru Liberty RS grew from 1:44 at the start of the day to 4:10 by the end.

Remarkably, the oldest car in the rally (the shell at least) the 1964 Ford Anglia driven by Ellement and Mclardy is sitting in seventh place outright, ahead of BMWs, Toyota Supras, V8s, and modern 4WD cars.

Competitors in T185 are limited to speeds of 185km/h.

In the T165 category, Simon Brenan and Sylvia Hamerlik led all day in their 2021 BMW M4 Competition. Their margin over Ben Pang and Brandon Chin in their 2020 Toyota GR Yaris grew from 45 seconds to 2:42 minutes.

Rookie Anthony Jewell and co-driver Rachael Ferrante in their 2022 Toyota Supra A90, climbed one place to finish the day in third place, 1:05 mins behind Pang and Chin.

In the car that won last year’s Tarmac West (driven by Bryce Moore), Jewell and Ferrante won five stages today, and on SS27 finished second outright, 5.2 seconds behind outright leader Rullo.

They lost time on SS22 when the car went into limp mode.

“It’s an annoying gremlin in the car that the GMW crew are looking into – when it goes into limp mode, there’s no power, I have to stop and reset the car. When car is running fine, we’re setting good times,” Jewell said.

“Every time we restart the car, it clears the error code, which means nothing shows when we bring back into service.

“I’m happy to have gotten through the big stages today. It was a lot to adjust to after circuit racing, and I feel like only today I’m gelling with the note calling.

“It’s so much fun and such a cool event to be a part of. From the outside looking in, there’s so much that goes into running this event, the logistics alone, I’m having a ball but it’s not over yet, we’re hoping to make up some more time tomorrow,” said the 22-year-old.

Competitors in T165 are limited to speeds of 165km/h.

In the T130 category, Daniel McGuckin and Colin McGuckin in their 1996 Nissan 180sx held their lead clocking up four stage wins to finish 22.7 seconds ahead of Gavin Dixon and co-diver Joe Crabtree in their 2021 Toyota GR Yaris who won five and finished second fastest in three of the nine stages today.

“We had a really good day, we are really happy, the stages are good out there. I do like the longer stages, you’re able to get into a rhythm,” Daniel McGuckin said.

Rounding out the top three in the T130 class was Jack Oehme and Anthony Oehme in their 2014 BMW M235i who are 2:40 off the leading pace.

In the Time Speed Distance or TSD Terea Lupton and Timonthy Lupton in their 2014 Peugeot 208 GTi are leading, their overall time closest to the target time.

Peter Hay and Gene Schneider in their 2020 Tesla Model 3 Performance are in second place, and ex-Australian cricketer Brad Hogg and co-driver Lachlan White in their 2016 BMW M140i round out the top three.

Introduced in 2024, Tarmac West’s TSD category is for those who like spirited driving and an accessible introduction to rallying. Designed for standard road cars, the category requires only a helmet and an Australian Auto-Sport Alliance (AASA) General Speed Licence to qualify for entry.

Looking ahead – the Finalé

Tomorrow (Sunday 20 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 final three stages around Langley Park along Riverside Drive and the Terrace Road Car Park. The podium celebrations and champagne spray will immediately follow the final stage.

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

Langley Park will be transformed into a motoring Mecca with 600 cars on display including guttural muscle cars, candy-coloured hot rods, sleek exotics along with classic, historic and cars from across the eras at the Celebration of Motorsport. There are also race cars, trucks, bikes helicopter rides, Monster Bus rides, activities and much more.

Lance East Exotics Tarmac West, held from 17 to 20 September, is the only event of its kind in Western Australia that tests the endurance of both man and machine.

Competitors in modern and classic cars will race the clock along 34 stages and a total of 218 competitive kilometres along closed roads around Whiteman Park, Ellenbrook, Parkerville, Kalamunda, Toodyay, Maryville, Bullsbrook, Malaga and the City of Perth.

Run by Tarmac Events WA, the rally is made possible thanks to sponsors with a special acknowledgement of title sponsor Lance East Exotics, and the 300 volunteer officials who ensure the event is run safely.

Spectating is free at Lance East Exotics Tarmac West.

For full results and to be kept up to date, visit www.tarmacevents.com.au.

Photography credits: R-Dev Media, Tim Allot, Dianne Bortoletto.