Husband and wife pairing, Ben and Cathy Hayes, have taken out the 2018 George Derrick Memorial Rally, the final round of the Victorian Rally Championship.
In doing so, the Subaru WRX mounted pair have won the title for the first time - just a week after contesting Rally Australia in their Holden Commodore V8.
In wet and slippery conditions, the Hayes' finished just nine second clear of Ivan Regester and Paul Humm in another Subaru, with Wayne Stewart and Lucas Zinsstag a further three minutes back - also in a Subaru.
Ben Hayes in action at the Boisdale Hillclimb track. Photo: John Doutch
Matt Lee had a mathematical chance of winning the championship, but the former Australian Rally Championship winning co-driver (2011) went off the road early in the event, ending his chances.
Once again the first two-wheel drive car home was the Ford Escort RS1800 of Grant Walker and Steph Richards, just over a minute clear of Brian Newton and Ryan Price in a Honda Civic EG6.
Young gun, Josh Bohm, was a strong sixth in his Hyundai Excel, only six seconds further back.
Cody Richards was a convincing winner in the VCRS event. Photo: John Doutch
The final round of the Victorian Club Rally Series (VCRS) also ran alongside the VRC component of the George Derrick, with Cody Richards and Matthew Dillon taking the win.
Driving a Ford Escort, Richards won the event by nearly four minutes over Aiden Peart and Stuart Armstrong in a Datsun 260Z. Peart's second place was enough to give him the VCRS title.
The Datsun Stanza of Joel Wald and Chris Ellis was third.
Interestingly, had Richards been entered in the VRC section of the rally, he would have finished in fifth place, just 26 seconds behind Grant Walker.
View the full George Derrick Rally results here.
Second place gave Aiden Peart the 2018 VCRS title. Photo: John Doutch
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