McMillan and co-driver Murray Wright prevailed in their Subaru Impreza WRX STI by just 6.3 seconds from Carter Strang/Catriona Flynn, of Wallacetown, in a Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 10, with brothers James and Harry Worker, of Mossburn, third in their EVO.
McMillan and co-driver Murray Wright won the opening two stages, building a margin of 19.2 seconds over Strang.
That would be as big as the margin got as it ebbed and flowed throughout the day.
Top seed Caleb Macdonald of Queenstown, in his EVO 6, won the third stage with Strang second and McMillan third, which shrank McMillan’s advantage to just 6.7 seconds over Macdonald.
McMillan and Strang shared the fastest time on the fourth stage, while Macdonald’s challenge ended as he lost a lot of time when a tyre came off the bead in the stage.
With one stage remaining, McMillan’s lead was out to 14.4 seconds over Strang. Strang won the final stage with a time 8.1 seconds quicker than McMillan’s which left McMillan with a 6.3 second advantage and the Barry Robinson Memorial Trophy.
McMillan praised his car which he pushed hard the whole day. "It was good to have a bit of luck. The car was good all day," he said
Strang said he was concentrating on his own race.
"It was a good battle. I was using all the road and then some. The car was perfect, we did nothing to it all day. The roads were fantastic."
Worker was third, 1 minute 48.3 seconds behind Strang and Deane Buist, of Christchurch, was fourth in his two-wheel-drive Toyota Trueno.
Tom Milliken, of Queenstown, won the Barry Robinson Memorial Challenge Trophy for the first Central Otago Motorsport Club member home.
Clerk of the course Craig Jessop said the weather was brilliant and the roads were in amazing condition.
"There were no retirements due to accident damage. The support from the locals was amazing and it was great to see groups out on the farms watching and getting behind the event."
Fourth seed Derek Ayson was out early with diff problems in his leased Ford Fiesta AP4, while other retirements included Phil Terry (gearbox), Bradley Ruddenklau (mechanical), Richard Ford (gearbox) while Harri Silcock, Brian Green and Steve King also all succumbed to mechanical issues. Murray Garrick, of Wanaka, in a Ford Escort Mk2, had problems early but rejoined the event and made it to the finish.
The rally was supported by the Mataura Licensing Trust, Traffic Management Services, Yuasa Battery plus Rayonier Matariki Forests, the Southland District Council, Gore District Council, Prime Range Fresh Shop Lorneville, Matt McRae and the landowners on the rally route plus the special stage and class sponsors.
