Shane van Gisbergen has hunted and humiliated his countryman and Supercars title rival Scott McLaughlin in a bitterly contested race at Pukekohe Park in New Zealand.
Van Gisbergen stalked polesitter McLaughlin on Saturday from the get-go and took victory, despite a five-second penalty issued against him for shunting his fellow Kiwi as he harassed him for the lead.
The eventual margin between the pair - just 0.5 seconds after the penalty was applied - showed the tightness of the contest.
And after a three-hour delay, the result was confirmed by stewards after a post-race investigation for spinning his wheels was thrown out.
Van Gisbergen appeared certain to have the book thrown at him for the breach, which would have docked him valuable championship points.
Instead, officials said replays didn't show a full revolution of his rear wheels, which spun rapidly as his pit team released his Commodore.
The off-track battle followed a bruising race, in which McLaughlin and van Gisbergen brawled throughout.
Van Gisbergen held superior pace and used it to overtake McLaughlin twice; first with a dive-bomb move on lap 23.
After McLaughlin reclaimed the lead with a strategic early pit stop, van Gibsergen won it back with a high-speed turn in front of the main grandstand with just 10 laps remaining.
Officials saw the original shunt that started the move as worthy of a five-second hurdle, which van Gisbergen cleared by half a second.
"I hope you guys enjoyed that," he said to his gushing home crowd.
"It was one of the coolest races I've ever had."
Van Gisbergen denied culpability for the pits blunder, which usually carries a drive-through penalty.
"I didn't feel the wheels spin ... I didn't even know about it until after the race," he said.
While McLaughlin won pole and finished second, holding onto his championship lead by two points, he still appeared stunned by the race.
"We raced hard all race and there was a bit tit-for-tat," he said.
"Gutted we didn't get the win.
"Hopefully, Ford fans can come back tomorrow and give these Opels a run."
Chaz Mostert finished third, with Jamie Whincup's fifth place not enough to keep him in the title race; the 460-point deficit to McLaughlin ends his faint mathematical hopes.
On lap eight, Fabian Coulthard was bumped into the fence after a concertina with Lee Holdsworth and Richie Stanaway, with his Falcon requiring major repairs to be ready for Sunday.
Stanaway was served a drive-through penalty for starting the incident.