Records were shattered and Hayden Paddon's rivals left in awe as New Zealand's rising star of world championship rallying snatched outright victory as well as classic class honours in the Otago Rally yesterday.
Driving a rear wheel drive Escort BDA - a type of car last competitive on the national stage before he was born - the 28 year old South Cantabrian secured the win with a record breaking run through the final special stage of the event, taking outright victory by 2.5sec from Tauranga driver Phil Campbell.
''I wasn't holding anything back over the last couple of stages,'' Paddon said at the finish.
''I just worked on being very focused, and as smooth as possible to get the maximum out of the car.
''Otago isn't a world championship event and I wasn't competing in my Hyundai i20 WRC car, but we're thrilled with the victory. It is a result that gives me a good confidence boost heading for the next WRC round in Portugal.''
Paddon, on a fleeting visit home between world championship events, was always a hot favourite to win the Classic Rally component of the event.
However, the performance gap between his 35 year old car and the state of the art turbocharged four wheel drive machines that dominate the contemporary national championship scene was such that no one considered him a prospect for the outright win.
He led from start to finish in the Classic Rally, and hit the front in the outright standings after four of the rally's 16 special stages. From then, he engaged in a see saw battle for the lead with Campbell, who was one of the few national championship contenders not to strike trouble early in the event.
Less than a second separated the pair heading into Saturday's final stage, where Campbell seized the initiative when Paddon spun.
Driving like a demon through the Whare Flat and Big Stone Rd stages yesterday, Paddon closed back to within 2sec of the lead. Campbell then counter attacked on stages that suited his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 especially well, securing a 30sec buffer with three stages to run.
What happened next will, in time, become the stuff of legend.
Firstly, Paddon pegged the gap back to 17sec on the new Table Hill stage to the west of Lake Waihola.
He trimmed it to just under 8sec through the Taieri Beach stage, shattering the classic record for that test by over a minute in the process.
Then came Kuri Bush, a stage internationally renowned for deceptive blind crests that require incredible commitment to traverse at speed.
Paddon, with long standing co driver John Kennard calling the crucial pace notes alongside, showed that commitment. Another classic rally stage record tumbled, and when the times were tallied, the rally victory was his.
Kennard, who along with Paddon's father, Chris, had urged him to press for the outright win, described their weekend as ''a very, very special ride''.
