The Devonport driver got the job done in a thrilling final race, when he crossed the line just  0:00.0135 ahead of Western Australia’s Franz Esterbauer at the Barbagello Raceway event.

This came after he had won the first two races of the weekend on Saturday.

For the 19-year-old it was a title defence he was ‘’desperate’’ to achieve to prove that he wasn’t just a one-hit wonder.

“It’s all sunk in now, especially as I’ve had time to think about how the whole race went down,’’ McLean said on Monday.

“It was a lot different to last year, and it was extremely close between me and two other drivers.

“I was third going into the last corner and just happened to think it out a bit, snuck up the inside and won.

“It was 11 seconds last year (the winning margin), so it was different.”