Alastair Fisher has become the first Briton to win a WRC Academy rally, after he dominated the Rally of Portugal round of the series.
The WRC Academy does not contest the full length of the main WRC round, allowing the Northern Irishman the chance to celebrate his maiden series win this afternoon. Fisher led the Academy field on this event 12 months ago, but crashed out of the lead on the final stage last year.
"It's a fantastic feeling to be here," said the winner, "it's long overdue. It's been a tough event, the conditions in the rain yesterday were really tricky, but I felt we could have gone harder. I didn't really think we were taking big risks at all."
Fisher, whose uncle Bertie was a four-time Irish Rally champion, finished the event 40 seconds ahead of Australian driver Brendan Reeves. Pontus Tidemand was third in the all-Fiesta R2 series.