The Highlands Motorsport Park owner and his co-driver, Naomi Tillet, were within sight of the finish line in the fifth out of six stages yesterday when Quinn lost control of the Lamborghini and crashed.
Neither he nor Tillett was injured, but the pair were forced to miss the sixth stage (there was also a seventh but it was cancelled due to road conditions), dropping them down to 13th in class and leaving a question mark over them continuing in the event.
Tarmac rally ace Glenn Inkster and co-driver Spencer Winn are in the lead after winning all six of the competitive stages between Pleasant Point and Dunedin.
For most of the day, Inkster fought a high-stakes four-way battle for overall and allcomers 4WD class honours with fellow Aucklanders Jason Gill and Mark Robinson (Mitsubishi Evo 9), Leigh Hopper and Simon Kirkpatrick (Subaru WRX) and five-time event winner Quinn.
By winning all six stages, Inkster arrived at the first overall stop of the event in Dunedin yesterday more than a minute and three-quarters ahead in class from Gill but just under a minute and a-half overall from the first-day leader of the modern 2WD class, US-based Kiwi husband and wife pair Gavin and Amy Riches in their Porsche GT3, who are second overall.
''It's a good start, but we just have to keep going,'' Inkster said.
Auckland's Clark Proctor and co-driver Sue O'Neill topped the modern 2WD class on the first and second stages west of Timaru in the morning in Proctor's hybrid Nissan V6 turbo-engined Ford Escort, but the Riches won the next four from Proctor.
Last year's Targa event winners, Martin Dippie and Jona Grant, of Dunedin, in their Porsche GT3 RS ended up third for the day.
The event continues today with the first stage right on the outskirts of Dunedin, before the trip north to points such as Palmerston, Duntroon, Ngapara and Windsor.
The event stops for lunch in Oamaru before returning to the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin for the second night.
