Mark Higgins took a nail biting overall victory on the Rally Isle of Man on Saturday, the closest in the event's history, adding the Higgins name to the roll of honour for the most wins on the event.
He now shares four victories with Tony Pond and Russell Brookes, who last won in 1990.
Irish championship runner Eamonn Boland was just eleven seconds behind as the cars crossed the finish line in front of the famous TT grandstand.
This was most special for Higgins' co-driver Rory Kennedy, having been close on ten occasions. It means the Irish co-driver has now won all of the British and Irish Championship events in his illustrious career.
Higgins' victory in his Atlas TEG Sport Impreza, also means that he now has an advantage in the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship over Guy Wilks, who finished a distant second in the BRC after a day one off dropped him and stand in co-driver David Moynihan three minutes.
His climb back up the leaderboard in the distinctive Mitsubishi Motors UK Evo 9, was only ever going to net him second though, as the battle for overall honours kept Higgins pushing for quick times.
Third, having been passed on the morning of the final day by a charging Wilks, were Team TQ.com's David Higgins and Ieuan Thmas, the solid points score more than enough to mean he retains the lead of the championship.
He admitted that the new car package probably wouldn't have the pace to keep Wilks at bay, but was pleased with the car's development.
Further down the order James Wozencroft put in another great drive in his Revolution Wheels-run Impreza N11 to take fourth, while Darren Gass was fifth in his Pirelli branded Mitsubishi Evo.
Brian O'Mahony was next up in sixth and he also took the R3 class win in his Renault Clio S1600, despite a few scary moments in the penultimate stage. Jonathan Greer, David Meredith, Paul Curphey and Dale Robertson rounded out the BRC top ten all in Mitsubishi Evos.
