Craig Rahill and Conor Smith claimed victory in the ERC3 and M-Sport Fiesta Rally3 Trophy section of Rally di Roma Capitale after a thrilling battle with Finland's Ville Vatanen that went down to the wire. Lying second overnight on Sunday, 3.7 seconds adrift of Vatanen, the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy crew dominated the final day with a hat-trick of stage wins to overturn the deficit and seal a 14.8-second victory. "It has been a great weekend here in Rome," said Rahill.

An agonising one-minute penalty denied Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy a hard-earned fourth-place finish on Acropolis Rally Greece, but they still claimed a top six finish - their best World Rally Championship result to date. The Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy crew started the demanding gravel rally in sixth before a pair of fourth-fastest times moved them into fourth by the end of Friday. They continued to shine on Saturday morning with McErlean the fastest M-Sport driver on

Jon Armstrong and Shane Byrne concluded the final asphalt World Rally Championship event for the current generation of Rally1 cars with a solid eighth-place finish and top Ford honours at Rally Japan, while Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy fought back from a puncture to secure tenth overall. Armstrong made a steady start to his first Rally Japan appearance, with a hard compound tyre choice making it difficult to challenge for top positions on the damp technical stages. A set-up

Craig Rahill and Conor Smith secured a superb second in ERC3 and the M-Sport Fiesta Rally3 Trophy on the Royal Rally of Scandinavia after a fantastic performance on the fast Swedish gravel stages. The Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy crew held second from the opening stage, delivering top-three Rally3 stage times on all but one of the 16 tests. The Ford Fiesta Rally3 crew had the special moment of opening the Power Stage on their way to finishing 15th overall on the fast-pace