Shaun Gallagher will get to compete on the Wales Rally GB this week for free, after coming out top in the Citroen C2 Junior Experience R2 category.

Gallagher, who also won the FIA Junior Rally Championship rookie title, finished his season in Spain back in October. In total the Irishman notched up two class wins, three second places and one third.

"Clive [Jenkins – my-co-driver] and I are thrilled," said Gallagher. "The C2 Junior Experience gave us a chance to compete within a clear organisational framework and with well-defined objectives for every event.

"The support we had from Citroen Sport's technical team also helped us improve. We worked well throughout the year with the preparation outfit Skip Brown Cars and with our team manager, Tom Nolan. Everyone's effort has now earned us this reward from Citroen Sport."

Citroen Sport's customer competition manager Yves Matton meanwhile was pleased with the outcome of the C2 Junior Experience which kicked off at the start of the season.

"Shaun ran his programme very intelligently. He was consistent and patient on every one of the six rounds that figured on his programme," stated Matton.

"That enabled him to take the prize each time out and go on to win the title in his category, not to mention his win in the FIA's rookie category. He is the first driver to win the 'R2' category of the C2 Junior Experience and we will be repeating the operation next year."

The results of the World Rally Team Ireland crew mean they will now get to run in Wales in a C2-R2 prepared by PH-Sport.

"Just like Simon Jean-Joseph this year, Shaun will have the chance to drive a PH Sport car," added Matton. "The team showed its ability by taking Simon to a second European Championship crown and will bring its considerable experience of the World Rally Championship to the table. Shaun will be able to profit from that expertise."

PH-Sport, which was one of Citroen Sport partners for the C2 Junior Experience along with Total and BFGoodrich, has come up with a striking livery for Gallagher's C2-R2 which will fly the colours of the 'experience' and its partners.