Mikele Leigertwood doubled his goals tally for the season with a brilliant brace, as Rangers ran riot against 10-man Stoke City in front of the live Sky Sports cameras.
Two-goal hero Leigertwood was joined on the scoresheet by Akos Buzsaky, on a day when Luigi De Canio's men totally out-foxed Tony Pulis' Championship front-runners.
To compound the visitors' woes, skipper Andy Griffin was harshly sent off in the 42nd minute, for a mistimed lunge on the influential Hogan Ephraim.
In truth, the margin of victory flattered Stoke, who were grateful to goalkeeper Steve Simonsen for keeping the scoreline down.
De Canio welcomed Ephraim and Rowan Vine back to the starting XI, at the expense of Angelo Balanta and Dexter Blackstock.
Meanwhile, Club Captain Gareth Ainsworth made a welcome return to the bench, following a recent back complaint.
Stoke were minus the services of long-throw specialist Rory Delap, which meant a recall for former Liverpool ace Salif Diao.
The visitors began promisingly in W12, with Liam Lawrence his usual effective self drifting in from the right flank.
His two early corner kicks failed to test Lee Camp though, as Rangers defended the aerial threat with ease.
Indeed, it was the R's who created the first opportunity of the match on nine minutes, when Ephraim fed Damien Delaney in an advanced position. He in turn found Vine, whose snap shot was diverted to safety by Leon Cort's outstretched leg.
At the other end, Lawrence's free-kick from the right wing was deflected on to the bar by Richard Cresswell, before Matthew Connolly mopped up the loose ball from under his own crossbar.
Buoyed by their reprieve, the R's went straight up the other end and opened the scoring courtesy of a stunning strike from Leigertwood.
The ball broke loose to the midfielder 25-yards from goal and he needed no second invitation, smashing an unstoppable left footed drive into the bottom right hand corner.
Leigertwood was in the groove and the former Sheffield United ace doubled his and his side's advantage just eight minutes later.
The midfielder started and finished a move involving Buzsaky and Vine, before arriving bang on cue to power home the latter's knock-down in to the roof of the net from 12-yards.
Martin Rowlands was the next player to try his luck from distance, deftly chipping the ball inches wide of Simonsen's right hand post from the edge of the penalty area.
Leigertwood again went close with a 12-yard header, as the Potters continued to play second fiddle to the R's in every department.
Bad turned to worse for the visitors in the 43rd minute, when Griffin was shown a straight red card for a rash two-footed lunge that just failed to connect with Ephraim's right leg.
Stoke very nearly halved the deficit on the stroke of half-time, but Ricardo Fuller's right foot shot cannoned off the far post, with Camp seemingly beaten.
Rangers continued to carve Stoke open at the start of the second half, with Vine unlucky to see his shot blocked, following a neat three-man passing move involving Ephraim and Agyemang.
There was nothing Stoke could do to prevent Buzsaky making it three moments later though.
Breaking from deep inside their own half, Vine carried the ball fully 20-yards before feeding Ephraim on the left wing. The former's run off the ball split the Stoke defence in two, allowing Ephraim to find Agyemang on the edge of the penalty box. With his route to goal blocked, Agyemang intelligently played in Buzsaky, who fired a first time effort beyond Simonsen from a tight angle.
It was vintage Rangers, with the outstanding Ephraim yet again at the heart of it.
Camp's superb double save from Glenn Whelan and then Cresswell preserved the R's clean sheet, and when Rangers broke at pace from his clearance, Vine saw his shot saved at the second attempt by Simonsen.
De Canio had the luxury of introducing Damion Stewart, Ainsworth and Blackstock as the clock ticked down, and the latter nearly made it four in the final minute, only for Simonsen to make yet another top-class save.
QPR: Camp, Delaney, Mancienne, Buzsaky, Rowlands (Ainsworth 81), Connolly, Agyemang, Ephraim, Vine (Blackstock 75), Hall (Stewart 78), Leigertwood.
Subs: Pickens, Lee.
Scorers: Leigertwood 12 & 21, Buzsaky 56
Bookings: Mancienne 30
Stoke City: Simonsen, Griffin, Cort, Whelan, Lawrence (Buxton 62), Cresswell, Fuller, Sidibe (Wilkinson 46), Pugh, Shawcross, Diao (Gallagher 55).
Subs: Hoult, Parkin.
Bookings: Cresswell 44
Red Cards: Griffin 43
Referee: Mr A D'Urso
Attendance: 13, 428
