Harris arrived at Bathurst sitting second in the series, 19 points behind Craig Woods.

He had enjoyed six prior wins in his Mazda BT50, while Woods had been more consistent yet claimed just one chequered flag in his Toyota Hilux.

Having qualified in second behind Craig Dontas for the first of three six-lap races for the Bathurst round, Harris wasted little time in challenging for the lead.

He made his move two wide through The Cutting and while close to the concrete wall, he stuck the manoeuvre.

He revealed it was one he reconnoitred moments earlier.

“On the formation lap I looked and saw it was dry there and I knew there would be some side-by-side stuff going on on the corners,” Harris said.

“The track dried out beautifully, really nicely and that’s one thing which has been a positive over the last two days, the track dries really fast.”

Earlier in Friday morning qualifying, Harris and his fellow competitors spent most of the session waiting in the pits due to a red flag.

Five minutes into the session, white smoke billowed out of the back of Tomas Gasperak’s Holden, leaving it stranded at The Cutting.

Competitors finally returned to the track with just over eight minutes remaining and in that time it was Dontas who was quickest with a 3:06.0967.

But with dry conditions in the afternoon, the SuperUtes went much quicker in the race.

From the rolling start Dontas was able to stay in front, Harris trying to get around him through Hell Corner before then tucking into the slipstream.

But Harris did not stay there for long, pulling off his bold passing move through The Cutting.

He then pulled clear of Dontas, a gap of 2.2290 seconds between them after lap one.

Behind that pair Aaron Cameron came from sixth on the grid up into third in his Mazda BT50 in the space of a lap.

As Harris increased his advantage to over five seconds, others jostled for position.

Ben Walsh’s Toyota Hilux claimed third and Tom Alexander – after several failed passing moves – finally got around Woods into fifth.

Woods, Kim Jane and Dave Sieders then staged an entertaining tussle which the latter got the better of.

But Harris was the standout – his speed across the top of the Mount particularly strong compared to his rivals. He finished with his fastest lap – a 2:47.699 to win ahead of Dontas and Walsh

“The team’s done a mega job – new cars, diesels - I’ll take that,” he said.

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