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The endurance event was contested by modern, two-wheel drive cars with engines up to two-litres as well as "classic cars" in two categories ? pre-1971 and 1971-1977.
There was also a section, the Clowes Cup, for those who completed the distance as a regularity event, without the high speed, timed special stages of the event proper.
Highest placing among the three-car Castrol Toyota entry went to the person who put the team together, Graham Lorimer, a New Zealander who lives in Zimbabwe.
He and co-driver Nick Starkey, of Britain, finished fourth overall after a mishap on the second last day. Their RunX hit a bridge that knocked a front wheel skew and the resultant time loss cost them third position.
Head gasket
Former British rally champion Jimmy McRae and co-driver Bruce Lyle had been leading the Marathon in their Castrol Toyota RunX after the European leg, but a blown head gasket early on the final leg, from Alice Springs, in Australia, resulted in massive time penalties that pushed them down the order.
The team was forced to skip a day's competitive stages while the car was towed to the overnight stop in Roma where the gasket was replaced.
Despite driving very hard and winning the last three special stages out of the 55 on the event, the Scot had to settle for 11th place among the 28 finisners. Altogether McRae set fastest time on 12 stages.
The third car in the Castrol Toyota team was crewed by Britons Steve Blunt and Bob Duck. They finished seventh after losing valuable time when the car slid off the road and got stuck on a tea bush in India.
All six Toyota Corollas and RunXs that started the event in London on June 1 made it to the finish in Sydney.
Overall winners of the event were New Zealanders Joe McAndrew and Murray Cole in a Honda Integra R. Two similar cars, also crewed by New Zealanders, took second and third positions and the team prize.
SA crews
Both South African crews on the event - Theo du Toit/Andre Bezuidenhout and Franz Pretorius/Roelof Coertse - completed the event in their Porsche 911s. They placed 19th and 22nd overall respectively and second and third in their class.
Nick Thake, of Britain, who had a number of family members sharing co-driving duties on a rotational basis, won the Clowes Cup regularity event. The family team drove a Porsche Cayenne.
A similar vehicle, with South African television commentator Graham Duxbury in the crew, together with British racing driver Mark Peters and his wife Noreen, finished fourth in this category.
The Toyota RunXs were built to the latest specification, as used for the "works" Class N3 version driven with success in the South African Rally Championship by Charl Wilken and Robin Houghton.
Toyota Motorsport in South Africa prepared the body shells with roll cages and then Zimbabwean rally technician Darryl Claassen worked in the team's Johannesburg workshop from February to the middle of April transforming the body shells into rally cars.
Claassen and another Zimbabwean, Ivan Pitout, accompanied the three rally cars for the whole event in the Hi-Ace service van.