Rhys Gardner's Mitsubishi Evo 9 redeemed itself in the best way possible as he won the Catlins Coast Rally on Saturday by just over 2min.
It was the Balclutha driver's second victory at the event and a dominant performance in which he won six of the eight stages.
After the mechanical issues that have dogged his recent events, Gardner admitted his ''confidence in the beast was shaken''. However, faith was restored after a nearly faultless run over the 161km of competitive Catlins' roads.
''We've always known as soon as we got everything working right, the results will be there,'' Gardner said.
He and co-driver Alex Ramsay, of Dunedin, took the lead in the first stage and, as he did when taking his first victory in 2012, Gardner put in a red-hot stage time - almost a minute quicker than anyone else -
on the penultimate stage near Balclutha.
His only adjustments to the car were to fix an oil leak and adjust the wheel alignment.
The treacherous special stage two that featured snow after icy weather the previous day was cause for concern. Gardner said in places he would touch the brakes ''and the car would slide for about 30 to 40 metres with no control''.
Christchurch's Richard Baddock drove a consistent rally in his Subaru WRX to finish second and was never outside the top three in any stage.
Third was another local Mike Verdoner who, after a superb drive in his Ford Escort, was the first two-wheel-drive car home. Balclutha's Verdoner recorded top-10 times all day.
He and son Jareb, who was making his co-driving debut, won the Kerry O'Donohue Memorial Trophy for being the first entirely South Otago crew home.
Dean Bond made it three Balclutha drivers in the top four as he finished fourth with sister Tania in the co-driver's seat.
Bond, the winner in 2009 and 2011, was hampered by injectors that blocked as each stage progressed as well as a puncture in the penultimate stage. He bounced back to win the final stage in front of a large crowd in his home town.
Christchurch's Deane Buist was fifth in his BDA Escort followed by Carter Strang, of Invercargill, in his Evo 6. Regan Ross, of Kaikoura, was seventh after early problems in his Ford Escort, although he was able to win the slippery stage two in which several lower-seeded drivers cracked the top ten.
Trevor Crowe, of Christchurch, was eighth in his Subaru WRX Ute, Neville Krammer, of Wallacetown, ninth in a Subaru Legacy and Barry Mills, of Balclutha, 10th.
Gore driver Jim McDonald narrowly missed the top 10, finishing 11, while Steve Wellington and brother Mike, of Dunedin, were 12, claiming the Glen Shirlaw Memorial Trophy for the first Otago Sports Car Club crew.
Highlands Motorsport Park owner Tony Quinn, in a rare gravel rally outing, and co-driven by Gore's Andrew Graves, climbed from 52 in the seedings to 26th.
Among the casualties were fourth seed Jeff Judd, of Christchurch, who retired his Subaru Impreza WRX with engine problems. Derek Ayson, of Gore, ended a fantastic run of reliability dating back to 2008, with a blown engine.
Marcus Van Klink, of Christchurch, who finished an impressive fifth in his Toyota Corolla AE86 last year, left the road on Saturday and was forced to retire during special stage six.
