New Zealander Shane Van Gisbergen described his breakthrough debut victory in V8 Supercars today as a dream come true and then had a word for the people of earthquake-battered Christchurch.
Van Gisbergen, at 21 the youngest driver in the field, piloted his Stone Brothers Racing Ford to the chequered flag in the second and final race of the Hamilton 400.
Having started fourth on the grid, he grabbed the lead just before the halfway stage of the 59-lap contest as he ducked inside the Holden of Rick Kelly, yesterday's race one winner, on a corner.
He then overcame two safety car periods, changing conditions as rain began to fall and his own nerves to become the first local driver to win in Hamilton, and the first to win in New Zealand since Greg Murphy at Pukekohe in 2005.
"It was a pretty emotional race," he said.
"When I passed Rick, I saw everyone in the crowd was cheering and it gets to you. I started making mistakes and there were a few 'come on Shane' moments."
He was followed home by the Holdens of Lee Holdsworth and Garth Tander, who was the afternoon's big mover, having been only 19th in qualifying.
Van Gisbergen admitted that he felt the weight of the country on his shoulders during the final laps on the 3.4km street circuit.
"No Kiwi had won it here and it's pretty cool to do it," he said.
"Hopefully, it gives something to the people of Christchurch and those who are hard done by."
Van Gisbergen said the crowd reaction reminded him of his own when he was growing up and used to watch Murphy, a four-time round winner at Pukekohe.
"I was a Murph-clapper, every lap I saw Murph go past I would clap for him," he said.
"There were a few people doing that today. It was pretty cool. It's a dream come true."
The win for the Gold Coast-based Aucklander came in his 55th start.
With 10 podiums, including two second placings since his debut four years ago, he had come close before.
He lead at Homebush in Sydney last December before running out of fuel with half a lap to go, limping home in third spot.
Team co-principal Ross Stone, who has backed Van Gisbergen since early on, was confident that his charge would be able to build on his first victory.
"The hardest one to win is always the first one," Stone said.
"Hopefully that's the case and we're looking forward to the future."
For Van Gisbergen, the decisive period was laps 24 and 25, when he overtook first Will Davison and then Kelly.
He opened a lead of over four seconds, but that was wiped out with 16 laps to go when the safety car was called out.
From the restart, Van Gisbergen was quick away, while behind him Holdsworth became his closest pursuer.
The safety car was again called out to produce a nine-lap sprint, but Van Gisbergen held his nerve.
Victory was a turnaround from yesterday's rain-swept race one, when Van Gisbergen, like other drivers, overshot his mark in the pits.
He hit a television cameraman in that stop, was held up by a car that had spun in another and finished 16th.
There was bad luck today for the two other New Zealanders in the field, Murphy and fellow Holden driver Fabian Couthard.
Both were in the top-10 in race one, but neither made it to the finish line in race two.
Murphy struck early gearbox trouble and had to retire.
Coulthard was involved in two tangles, and the second with three laps to go ended his race.
Championship leader Jamie Whincup, who had been unbeatable in Hamilton over the past two years, had a disappointing weekend, with a placings of 23rd and 18th.
However, Whincup did manage a lap time of 1min 22.8973sec today to break his own track record set last year by 0.3807sec.
