Indian Gaurav Gill and Australian-based co-driver Glenn Macneall swept Sunday's six special stages to snatch victory from overnight leader and Czech team-mate Jan Kopecky in the International Rally of Whangarei.
Gill was the overall rally winner at the opening rounds of the 2014 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) and the New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC), won by Masterton husband and wife duo Richard and Sara Mason, who were 11sec behind.
A history-making fifth title is their major focus in 2014. Driving the MRF Tyres Skoda Fabia S2000 car, Gill was runner-up at Whangarei last year and was pleased to avoid the technical or mechanical issues that have spoilt his chances of victory there in the past.
''This time it was the best way to win - to come from the back, especially being down by 23sec - it was a massive amount of time to make up in this situation,'' Gill said.
Only 13 of the original 26 competitors finished the 14-stage event, held in dry, dusty and fast conditions.
A further four in the Top Half Rally Series completed the full event.
Surviving their own catalogue of problems, the four-time NZRC-winning Masons, in their Subaru STi, finished comfortably ahead of brother and sister team Matt and Nicole Summerfield in an earlier model Subaru.
Rookie Lance Williams, of Te Aroha, and co-driver Raymond Bennett finished third in their Subaru.
Dunedin's Emma Gilmour and Australian co-driver Ben Atkinson endured a tough event, a blown boost hose in their Suzuki Swift Maxi marring their chances early on Saturday.
After it was repaired, the gear stick broke, requiring some Kiwi ingenuity.
''We put a screwdriver into the transmission and cable tied it in,'' Gilmour said.
Gilmour managed to set six top-five stage times and finish the event.
Hawkes Bay driver Max Bayley, an NZRC rookie, won the group N 2WD category, while defending open 2WD champion Hamish Anderson started his title defence with a class win, and Canterbury's Marcus Van Klink was the round victor for the historic class in his potent Mazda RX7.
