Gore driver Andrew Graves took his second Catlins Coast Rally title on Saturday.
Graves last won the event in 2010 and had an outstanding performance, despite his Mitsubishi being an older Evo 3 model.
Since the 2010 victory, he has placed third in 2011 and second last year. He also won the event as a co-driver with good friend Derek Ayson in 2005.
Graves said he was ''absolutely stoked'' with the victory.
''It's really cool. If the car ever becomes unreliable, or too slow, I might have it mounted! The car ran faultlessly all day and a lot of that is thanks to Lindsay Tressler.''
He said he got a bit too close to a signpost in the third stage, taking out a tail-light.
''It's a shame that Rhys [Gardner] and Bondy [Dean Bond] struck problems. It would have been a great battle.''
Graves won the Darryl Robinson Memorial Trophy coming home 35.5sec ahead of 2004 winner Deane Buist, of Christchurch, (Evo 4). Ayson, of Gore, (Ford Escort Mk2) was third and first two-wheel-drive car home, in a Nissan-powered Escort, coping with a gearbox that was losing oil.
Top seeds Balclutha drivers Rhys Gardner and Dean Bond made it to the finish but both had days to forget.
Bond won the first stage in his Evo 6.5 and Gardner (Evo 7) won the second, to move into the rally lead. Bond went back in front after Gardner stopped in the third stage. He resumed but his chance of victory was gone.
Bond took the fourth stage from Gardner to give himself a 9.9sec lead over Graves, who had been second-fastest in the first three stages and third-quickest in the fourth.
However, in the fifth stage, Bond and Gardner went off the road in close proximity to each other, leaving Graves with more than a minute in hand over Buist.
Graves won the next two stages before backing off to come home safely.
Gardner bounced back to win the seventh stage and Jim McDonald, of Gore, won the final test, at the Riverside Reserve in Balclutha.
Balclutha driver Barry Mills surpassed his best previous Catlins result of sixth, taking fourth place with a superb drive despite a broken radius rod that left him to struggle through 10km of the second stage. He and co-driver Mark Allington took the Kerry O'Donoghue Memorial Trophy for the first South Otago crew home and they also snared class G honours.
Marcus Van Klink, of Christchurch, was fifth in his Toyota Corolla and first in class C.
Class D winner Scott Simpson, and co-driver James Bee, of Oamaru (Evo 7), who placed ninth overall, won the Glen Shirlaw Memorial Trophy for the first Otago Sports Car Club crew.
The rally introduced fresh stages this year, with only the traditional Cannibal Bay stage unchanged. Drivers contested the longest stage in New Zealand rallying this year, the 48km seventh stage through Waitepeka.
