The Welsh pair of Meirion Evans and Lestyn Williams won the historic grade but Ayson finished in the quickest overall time.
Ayson was driving his Nissan-powered Escort and though he had a few issues with the car at times, he came through as a convincing winner, just under four minutes ahead of Evans and Williams.
In the challenge grade he was more than 30 minutes clear of the second-placed car, a BMW, driven by Ed Mulligan and Tony Brandon.
Dunedin builder Brodie Anderson and Brad Lyon finished third in an Escort.
Highlands Race Park owner Tony Quinn made his debut on the gravel in a multi-day rally event and finished ninth in the challenge grade.
Ayson (45), a real estate agent, led for most of the rally but ran into some problems on the final day.
A broken rose joint in the rear suspension slowed him on one stage, and that was followed by a wheel stud being stripped.
``We were a little bit conservative in those stages. We had everything to lose and nothing to gain. But we could tip-toe to the end as we had a big enough lead to the next car.''
It was the first time he had competed in the event, and said it was something to
tick off the bucket
list.
``It was pretty good to win it and we were as confident as you could be. But the car is in pretty good shape and the crew and co-driver did a wonderful job.''
The event, which will take place in the North Island in two years, was run on dry roads and drivers managed to miss most of the rain in the South last week.
Ayson said the roads - more than 1000km - were superb.
His next goal is to strip the car and get it ready for Rally Otago next year.
