Scott Biggs finished back in seventh place with 569.08 points, while Auret was sitting 15th after the morning session of the round – having to climb back in the afternoon to finish 10th with 644.47 points.
"A few of us top drivers got a really bad draw in the morning," Auret said.
"We were hitting the bog holes at the worst time.
"[In the afternoon], the big hill climbs were completely rutted out before we got to them.
"There's not a lot more I could have done in the morning.
"Unfortunately for me, you always get a bad round like that and you can drop it [from final points tally], but I can't drop it."
Auret missed the opening round of the series in November due to recovering from a broken leg in a farm accident, which meant he had already used up his sixth and worst result, which gets dropped from the final tally.
He and co-driver Paul Barnes also had a couple of rolls in their truck during the 31-obstacle event, including flipping over backwards on a hill climb.
Auret, who prides himself on being a consistent Top 5 finisher, which helped him win two national 4x4 titles, was very disappointed with the day.
He will now struggle to make 3NZ for the season, although he is well within the qualification cut-out to enter the 5th Suzuki Extreme Challenge being hosted by Cowper on April 28 at his Turakina farm.
"Top 10 doesn't seem to be good enough [for me]," Auret said.
For Jarred Biggs to win the title from Scott Biggs, who still has three round wins, he will need a similar or larger points spread to Saturday when the final round is hosted in Inglewood on April 13.
