Kris Meeke was ultimately left disappointed following the inaugural Rally Ireland after he was forced out on the first leg.

Meeke, who competed in the FIA Junior World Rally Championship with the Citroen C2 S1600 in 2005 and 2006 and who has been doing odd events in the Irish Tarmac Championship this season, was running in seventh place in his privately entered Impreza - around 13.4 seconds behind Henning Solberg, when he lost time in SS5 with a lose turbo pipe.

That issue dropped him to ninth, but worse was to come for the Ulsterman, when he was caught out by the conditions in SS7. Although he managed to get his car back to service at Sligo, he opted to retire as the machine was no longer at its best.

It was a blow for the Brit, especially as he had set very competitive times considering his position on the road. Indeed he posted five top-ten stage times, including a third fastest effort on the Stormont Super Special and a seventh best time in SS4.

"If the car is not going to be 100 per cent, and with the overall result out-the-window, it would have been impossible for me compete with the guys at the front," he explained on his personal website.

"In addition, our road position, if anything, would have been worse than day 1, and I could not afford to hit the car again.

"If you look at the attrition rate, and the calibre of drivers the conditions have claimed, it has to go down as one of the trickiest rallies of in the calendar.

"I'm slightly disappointed that our efforts behind the wheel today did not reflect in the time sheets, and maybe I under-estimated the disadvantage of running this far down the order, but I gave it my best shot. I can take some consolation from our Stormont Super Special Stage - but not much!"