Top seed Carter Strang dominated the Rankleburn Rally in West Otago on Saturday as the Southlander from Wallacetown and co-driver Stewart Robbie won all four special stages.
The pair extended their lead throughout the day to eventually finish 1min 27.5sec ahead of runner-up Tony Gosling.
Gosling battled hard from the start with Invercargill driver Mark McMillan but McMillan bowed out after a mechanical problem in special stage three, leaving Gosling to fend off Cantabrian duo David Clearwater and Allister Gibson.
"It was a really good day. The roads were better than I thought considering the weather we have had,'' Strang said.
"I had a problem with the car overboosting and we had to run it on low boost but other than that it was all good,'' Strang said.
David Scoles, the 12th seed, worked hard to place fourth overall and first in class C with co-driver Glenn Howden.
In the same class, Mosgiel driver Steven Thompson led heading into the final stage but finished fifth.
Winton brothers Jeremy and Dayne McIlwrick won class D in an EVO 4, and finished sixth overall.
Mark Parsons, Murray Marshall, Dunedin pairing of Richie and Rachel Chadwick, and Neville Krammer rounded out the top 10.
Roger Laird, of the Eastern Southland Car Club, spoke highly of the drivers.
"All the drivers handled the changeable weather and road conditions extremely well particularly as some parts of the event were quite slippery and comments about the event were very positive,'' he said.
Showers fell during the day which made for a variety of surfaces for drivers to face.
- Holly Percival
