Richard and Sara Mason, the husband and wife rally driving duo from Masterton, led from start to finish in the Drivesouth Rally Otago over the weekend, to win the event and take the lead in the 2012 Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship.
The Otago event is the third NZRC round of the season and Sunday's conditions included bouts of strong winds during the morning stages, before teams returned to an unseasonably calm and warm Dunedin for the afternoon ceremonial finish.
The first three stages were run in the dark on Friday and the Masons took an early lead of 35 seconds over Rotorua's brother and sister pairing of Sloan and Tarryn Cox.
On Saturday, despite determined challenges from Cox and Timaru's Chris West and Chris Cobham, the Masons extended their lead to 53 seconds after eight further competitive tests.
By the end of Sunday, they had a comfortable margin of 2min 13.7s over West, while Dunedin's Emma Gilmour and co-driver Anthony McLoughlin wrapped up the event's 17 stages in third overall.
