Jamie Whincup, driving a Holden Commodore, overcame a near-empty fuel tank and a ferocious challenge from rookie Ford driver Dave Reynolds to win Australia's leading touring car race, the Bathurst 1000, on Sunday for the fourth time.
Whincup and semi-retired co-driver Paul Dumbrell combined to win the 50th annual edition of the race by 0.31 seconds in a thrilling finish from Reynolds and Dean Canto who put Ford on the podium for the first time in four years.
Craig Lowndes and Warren Luff, also in a Commodore, charged late to take third place, more than 8 seconds behind the winners.
An elated Whincup said he had "about half a Coke can" of fuel remaining when he crossed the finish line.
Whincup and Dumbrell led for more than 100 of the 161 laps of the twisting Mount Panorama circuit in New South Wales state, though the 1,000 kilometre race had nine lap leaders overall.
At its biggest, their lead was around 8.1 seconds but Reynolds and Canto, who both achieved their first-ever podium finish in Supercar racing, dogged them for more than half the race.
Whincup joined Australia's Allan Moffatt and New Zealander Greg Murphy as a four-time winner of the race while Dumbrell was a winner for the first time in 12 starts at Mount Panorama.
"What a phenomenal day," Dumbrell said. "You could not get a better feeling than what we're feeling right now.
"(Jamie's) drive was the best drive I've ever seen. How good is this?"
Reynolds pressed Whincup as hard as was possible on wearing tires through the last laps of the race but was unable to find the pace or space to pass.
"The finish was not too bad," Reynolds said. "For me it was just another day at the office but the team did an awesome job all weekend.
"I had a good racecar at the end. It was so quick and Dean (Canto) did an awesome job."
The marathon race provided its usual high rate of attrition, even among the leading drivers. Defending champions Garth Tander and Nick Percat saw their defence effectively end on the 38th lap when, with Percat at the wheel, a mechanical failure caused their car to glance a wall.
Will Davison and John McIntyre, who started from pole position in a Ford Falcon, finished 24th after a break failure at the end of the main straight caused them to spear off the track at more than 250 kilometres per hour.
The 50th anniversary edition of the race was attended by a record crowd of 207,205 over its four days
AP