Kris Meeke claimed the first European Rally Championship victory of his career at Rali Ceredigion as Teemu Suninen became champion.
Meeke, driving a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, beat Škoda-driving Suninen by 38.6s, with Andrea Mabellini’s sixth place finish confirming Suninen as European champion for the first time.
Outgoing champion Miko Marczyk completed the podium in Wales ahead of Max McRae and local driver Meirion Evans; the two Brits both claiming career best ERC results.
Suninen and Meeke were embroiled in a close fight from the start; the Finn leading his old WRC rival by just 0.9s following Friday evening’s four stages.
However the champion elect made an error on the first stage of Saturday, half-spinning his Fabia on the exit of a hairpin and giving up 13.6s to Meeke – dropping to third.
Suninen's fourth ERC podium in a row helped him to the 2026 title with a round to spare
SS6 was cancelled, but Suninen turned up the heat on SS7 to steal 5.7s from Meeke – vaulting back into second and closing to just 7s behind the Yaris.
Impressed by his opponent’s time, Meeke felt he needed to respond across the afternoon and duly won SS8, 9 and 10 to build a 20.5s advantage following the two Aberystwyth street stages.
That gave Meeke a decent advantage for the final day, which grew further when Suninen suffered his second spin of the weekend on SS14 – this time damaging the front of his car and causing a coolant leak.
With the car fixed in service, Suninen returned for the final two stages and duly secured the European title with a round to spare – the first overall title of his career.
“Amazing,” smiled Suninen. “On Wednesday I couldn’t believe we could be on this pace, I was quite sick, but we got on the pace. It’s been a really good season for us and we’ve been doing a great job on the Tarmac.”
Meeke, who took his first rally win on UK soil since 2007, added: “What a weekend, big thanks to everyone who got me here. It’s so enjoyable when the package is right. To get that real flow state again… delighted.”
Meeke's last rally win on UK soil was 19 years ago
Marczyk finished a lonely third ahead of McRae and Evans, who both benefitted by their British Rally Championship rival Osian Pryce retiring with gearbox trouble on SS14.
The stage prior had caught out Jakub Matulka, who braked too late for a downhill left hander and careered into a haybale that was protecting a telegraph pole. The Pole had been fourth before his exit.
Lancia driver Andrea Mabellini came to Ceredigion knowing his championship challenge depended on dropping fewer than 10 points to Suninen on round six.
Starting the powerstage, the Italian was set to lose nine points to Suninen, so needed to outscore his rival by at least two on the powerstage to prolong the title battle. However he could only manage the seventh best time, while Suninen went quickest.
Team MRF’s Erik Cais claimed seventh place on his first ever rally in the UK, ahead of MRF stablemate Simone Tempestini.
Timo Schulz won Junior ERC, trailing Opel team-mate Tom Heindrichs by just 0.1s on Saturday night but prospering after the Belgian crashed on Sunday morning.
