Grant Denyer, driving his Les Walkden Rallying-prepared Subaru Impreza WRX STI, has finished in third place at the Mt Buller Sprint after a mechanical issue on the final day ruined any chances of him maintaining his overnight lead.

Denyer went into the final day with an 11 second buffer over the Skelta of Ray Vandersee.

But a fuel pick-up problem, which left the car starved of fuel coming out of the tight hairpin turns on the course, saw Denyer and co-driver Dale Moscatt slip back throughout the day to finish in third place.

Vandersee took the title by 23.74 seconds from Klark Quinn's Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, with Denyer a further 1.95 seconds back rounding out the podium.

New South Wales' Tony Longhurst finished strongly in his Subaru Impreza WRX STI to finish 3.26 seconds behind Denyer.

Fellow Les Walkden Rallying driver, Brendan Reeves, maintained his overnight sixth position across the final four sprints up the mountain.

While it was frustrating day for Denyer, the star of TV and track was philosophical, even upbeat.

"It was just one of those things that happen in motorsport," Denyer said.

"The pace of the car was extraordinary and I feel like I was driving really well, but we were just losing big slabs of time at every hairpin today."

"Luckily when it was wet early in the event we blitzed everyone, so we had a buffer and were able to hold on to third."

"We'll just have to come back again next year and try to collect this title then."

Final Results - Mt Buller Sprint

1 VANDERSEE / ALLEN, 2004 Skelta G-Force, 55:51.62
2 QUINN / LONG, 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, 56:15.36
3 DENYER / MOSCATT, 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX , 56:17.31
4 LONGHURST / TAYLOR, 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX, 56:20.57
5 SHEARS / SHEARS, 2001 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, 56:22.98
6 REEVES / SMYTH, 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX, 56:32.84
7 JONES / SOUTAR-DAWSON, 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, 56:55.51
8 CLOSE / CLOSE, 2000 Porsche 996 Turbo, 57:07.39
9 BEAUMONT / COLE, 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, 57:41.69 10 WHITE / WHITE, 2007 Lamborghini Gallardo, 58:08.49