Kris Meeke claimed his first FIA European Rally Championship victory at Rali Ceredigion, while Teemu Suninen secured the 2026 ERC title with second place on the fast Welsh asphalt.
Kris Meeke returned to the top step of international rallying in emphatic fashion at Rali Ceredigion, converting a weekend-long battle with Teemu Suninen into a 38.6-second victory as the Finnish driver simultaneously secured the FIA European Rally Championship crown.
Driving the Melvyn Evans Motorsport-run Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 alongside Noel O’Sullivan, Meeke produced the decisive performance of the weekend on the ultra-fast Ceredigion roads. His victory was his first in the ERC as a registered driver and came on his first championship appearance since Rally Poland in 2006.
The result capped a remarkable three days for Meeke, who had never previously contested the modern Rali Ceredigion. After Friday’s opening four stages, the five-time World Rally Championship event winner was only 0.9 seconds behind overnight leader Suninen in a rally that immediately developed into a two-driver contest.
Suninen and Meeke traded the lead through the opening stages, but Saturday proved the turning point. Meeke won five of the day’s tests, including both runs through Aberffrwd and Soar y Mynydd, to establish a 20.5-second advantage heading into Sunday’s final four stages.
It was the sort of advantage that should have made the final morning relatively straightforward, but Ceredigion’s notoriously unforgiving asphalt still had one final twist.
The opening Sunday stage was interrupted following an accident involving Jakub Matulka and Damian Syty. Suninen then spun on the following test and nosed his Škoda Fabia RS into a hedge, damaging its cooling system. Despite the drama, the Finn was able to continue and preserve second place — more than enough to achieve his primary objective.
Suninen crossed the finish 38.6 seconds behind Meeke, securing his first European Rally Championship title with one round still remaining. His consistency throughout the season, rather than outright dominance at every event, proved decisive: the Rali Ceredigion runner-up had already built a substantial points advantage and needed only to remain ahead of title rival Andrea Mabellini.
The championship success also made Suninen the first Finnish driver to win the ERC since Esapekka Lappi in 2014. His title was secured alongside co-driver Antti Haapala in the The Racing Factory Škoda, completing a season that had already included victory on Rally Poland and podium finishes in Rome and the Czech Republic.
Behind the leading pair, Miko Marczyk completed the podium in his Škoda Fabia RS, 1m02.6s behind Meeke. The Polish driver had been among the frontrunners throughout, but was unable to match Meeke’s Saturday pace.
The biggest British story came from Max McRae. The 21-year-old delivered fourth overall in his Škoda Fabia RS, finishing just 14.6 seconds from the podium and collecting a career-best ERC result in the process. His performance was particularly significant for the British Rally Championship, where the result moved him into the championship lead with one round remaining.
Osian Pryce followed McRae home in sixth, while fellow Welshman Meirion Evans finished eighth after another strong showing on home asphalt. Pryce’s result came despite the Castrol MEM Toyota driver being involved in a tightly packed battle throughout the event, while Evans remained firmly in contention for the BRC title fight.
Images by John Jackson
The final top 10 was completed by Andrea Mabellini, Erik Cais and Simone Tempestini.
For Meeke, however, the weekend was about something rather different.
His Toyota was consistently one of the fastest cars on the Ceredigion stages, and the statistics underline just how strong his performance became. Meeke claimed the opening two Aberystwyth superspecial runs, three further stage wins on Saturday and both SS9 and SS10 before taking another victory on SS12.
The speed was matched by a visibly renewed enthusiasm for the competition.
“What a weekend, honestly,” Meeke said after the finish, praising the people and organisations that made his Ceredigion programme possible. He described the event as an exceptionally enjoyable return to high-level Tarmac rallying.
That sentiment neatly captured the appeal of the 2026 Rali Ceredigion. The sixth running of the closed-road event brought together 149 crews from 18 nations, with the ERC and British Rally Championship joined for the first time by the FIA European Historic Rally Championship. Across three days, the international field tackled 16 timed asphalt stages around Aberystwyth and the surrounding Ceredigion countryside.
For the organisers, the event represented another major step in the rapid development of the Welsh rally. For Suninen, it delivered a European championship. For McRae, it transformed the BRC title picture.
And for Meeke, it was something arguably even more significant: a reminder that, given a competitive Rally2 car and a set of roads that reward commitment, the former WRC winner still has plenty of speed to unleash.
Ceredigion may have been Meeke’s first ERC victory. On this evidence, it certainly did not look like his last.
Image by John Jackson
