Basking in his maiden The Bend 500 win, Chaz Mostert could only thank his co-driver for keeping his Toyota Supra in one piece through "absolute monsoon weather".
Mostert breathed new life into his Supercars title defence in South Australia on Saturday after delivering Toyota their first endurance race win.
But it was his Walkinshaw TWG Racing co-driver Fabian Coulthard who navigated torrential rain in a stop-start 147-lap race that included three safety cars.
Last year's grand finalist Kai Allen and co-driver Tim Slade took second, with Walkinshaw's all-New Zealand line-up Ryan Wood and Jaxon Evans completing the podium.
It was a much-needed victory for Mostert, who has won just once in the new Supra after 29 races this year.
The dual Bathurst 1000 winner last took the chequered flag in May, winning the Tasmania Super 440 opener.
"We were just having a bit of a laugh after the podium ceremony. We didn't expect this today," Mostert said.
"We started a little bit further in the pack (in 11th), but the racing gods obviously threw a spanner in the mix with absolute monsoon weather out there.
"(Wood and I) were probably two pretty happy boys to be sitting in the garage watching the first 54 laps of that.
"That was some pretty hard yakka. 'Fabs' and Jaxon did an awesome job for the first part of that race."
Coulthard was adamant the new Supra could compete at next month's Bathurst 1000 and pull off an Enduro Cup cleansweep.
The pair had suffered an engine failure in last year's Great Race, with Mostert famously accepting a beer from a spectator on the sidelines.
"I don't see why (the Supra) can't," Coulthard said.
Wood added: "A hundred per cent, especially with a lot of the noise that's been surrounding our package the last couple of months.
"It's a really monumental step forward for us."
Allen's Grove Racing teammate Matt Payne crossed the finish line in fourth, but was demoted to sixth with a five-second penalty for hitting rookie Jayden Ojeda in the final stages.
PremiAir Racing driver Ojeda took fifth place, behind Triple Eight's Will Brown.
Brown's teammate and Sprint Cup winner Broc Feeney endured a horror outing with co-driver Nick Percat, finishing 24th out of 26 cars.
Percat's trials and tribulations began on lap six when he was spun by Team 18's Lee Holdsworth.
He was then hit by Blanchard Racing Team rookie Zak Best en route to turn three on lap 33, suffering significant right rear suspension damage.
Fellow Triple Eight co-driver Scott Pye, in Brown's car, also had a horrible start.
Pye suffered a tyre puncture on lap two, re-joined the field in 25th a lap behind, then ran off the track before serving a 15-second driving infringement penalty.
Last year's race winners Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood were nowhere near the top, finishing 17th after starting from the top spot.
Hazelwood had squandered Kostecki's hard-earned pole position and was swallowed by the front pack after failing to launch from lights out.
Normally near-flawless, the Dick Johnson Racing co-driver struggled through his 54-lap stint with tyre grip and later sustained a 15-second penalty for speeding in pit lane.
So treacherous were the conditions that a spectator in his 30s was taken to hospital for treatment on an arm injury following a suspected lightning strike. He was later discharged, race organisers said.
THE BEND 500 RESULTS:
1. Chaz Mostert/Fabian Coulthard (Walkinshaw TWG Racing)
2. Kai Allen/Tim Slade (Grove Racing)
3. Ryan Wood/Jaxon Evans (Walkinshaw)
4. Will Brown/Scott Pye (Triple Eight Race Engineering)
5. Jayden Ojeda/David Russell (PremiAir Racing)
