Broc Feeney held on for the "hardest race" victory of his career from pole position at a chaotic Sydney 500 to restore his early Supercars championship lead.
Triple Eight star Feeney withstood a strong late challenge from second-year driver Kai Allen in changing weather - and a cool suit failure in sapping heat - to take out Sunday's final 200km sprint at Sydney Motorsport Park.
But Allen's bid for a sixth career podium finish was dashed with seven of the 52 laps remaining, the Grove Racing youngster forced to return to the garages with a suspected front-left suspension failure.
His teammate Matt Payne was second, as Tickford ace Cam Waters pulled off a masterclass drive to finish third after starting 20th.
Feeney will have to share the series lead with Payne on 259 points, after momentarily relinquishing top spot to Team 18 underdog and Saturday's race-winner Anton De Pasquale.
Having been stretched to the limit by his cool suit failure, the Triple Eight star leaves Sydney with an impressive haul of two from three race wins and one pole position in his new Ford Mustang.
An "overheating" Feeney was attended to by medical staff after climbing out of his Mustang in exhaustion.
"When things aren't cooling as well as they should be, then you drink a lot of water, and then I ran out of water," Feeney said.
"I was pushing super hard amongst all the stuff that we had going on. I mean, I was overheating.
"To walk away with another win, that was certainly the hardest race I've had inside a car."
Defending champion Chaz Mostert achieved a similar feat to Waters, finishing fourth after qualifying 22nd.
Mostert had crossed the finish line in fifth, but was promoted after Brodie Kostecki received a 15-second penalty for spinning Aaron Cameron on the final lap.
It was some relief for the Walkinshaw TWG Racing star, who began Sunday's event last in the series after being disqualified from race two when stewards found tyre sensors weren't fitted to his Toyota Supra.
A yellow flag on lap 29 caused a scramble to pit lane for the 24-strong grid, with Blanchard Racing Team's James Golding bringing out the safety car after his left rear wheel came loose.
The rolling wheel cut through the grass from turn nine to 11, with Toyota drivers Ryan Wood and Andre Heimgarter just missing the rogue obstacle.
Just as the entire grid began to file out of pit lane on new tyres, heavy rain and strong winds hit the track on lap 32.
Chaos ensued on the race reset on lap 33, with De Pasquale spinning off-track at turn four after contact with Dick Johnson Racing's Kostecki.
De Pasquale took Feeney's teammate Will Brown with him, with the pair finishing 15th and 18th respectively.
Brown was slapped with his 15-second penalty of the weekend for the incident, with race stewards finding the Triple Eight driver had forced Kostecki into De Pasquale.
RACE THREE RESULTS:
1. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight Race Engineering)
2. Matt Payne (Grove Racing)
3. Cam Waters (Tickford Racing)
4. Chaz Mostert (Walkinshaw TWG Racing)
5. Ryan Wood (Walkinshaw)
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
= 1. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight) 259pts
= 1. Matt Payne (Grove) 259pts
3. Cam Waters (Tickford Racing) -21
4. Brodie Kostecki (Dick Johnson Racing) -28
5. Anton De Pasquale (Team 18) -62
