Kris Meeke and Noel O’Sullivan claimed a sensational victory on last weekend’s JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion following a spellbinding performance across all three days of competition on the spectacular closed-road stages of West Wales.
The victorious pair fought back from behind to finish ahead of Teemu Suninen and Antti Haapala, although second place was enough for the Finns to secure the FIA European Rally Championship title.
For Meeke, the victory was particularly significant, marking his first win in the United Kingdom since 2007 – and the Northern Irishman was understandably delighted with the result.
“What a weekend, honestly, big thanks to everyone,” enthused Meeke, who described Saturday as one of the most enjoyable days of Tarmac rallying he had ever experienced.
“The stages are just incredible; there are so many interesting things in there. They change rhythm; there are bumps and jumps, there’s technical and there’s flat out, wow!”
The event also hosted two rounds of the British Rally Championship, with Max McRae and Cameron Fair taking victory in round four before Meirion Evans and Dale Furniss triumphed in round five.
Osian Pryce and James Morgan finished second across the first two days and was right in the mix on Sunday, only to be forced into retirement by a gearbox problem.
All three crews can still win the 2026 BRC title. Just two points now separate the trio setting up a thrilling three-way title showdown heading into next month’s Cambrian Rally finale.
In the Historic event, which also formed part of the FIA European Historic Rally Championship, Maciej Lubiak and Grzegorz Dachowski took top honours. The Polish pairing fended off a strong challenge from the Ford Escort of Dyfrig James and Trystan Evans, while another Welsh crew, Andy Davies and Owain Davies, completed the podium in third.
The National Rally was won by Rhys Wyn Davies and Gerwyn James in their Welsh-built Darrian GTR+. They finished nearly two minutes ahead of Dylan Davies and Mark Glennerster in a Skoda Fabia R5, with Ian Bainbridge and Ross Whittock’s Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 a further 46 seconds behind in third.
“This win means a lot to me,” admitted Davies. “It’s my local rally and it’s an amazing feeling. The pressure was on this morning when the rain was hitting my window. I thought I was going to lose out a lot to the four-wheel-drive cars on the first stage, but I pushed on really hard and we took a big chunk out of them. That was the hard work done then, so we were happy with that.”