Kris Meeke capped his superb 2009 season with victory for Peugeot UK in the Rally of Scotland.
Meeke already had a comfortable advantage when the final Loch Ard stage was stopped after fifth-placed David Bogie rolled and blocked the course. Bogie and co-driver Kevin Rae were unhurt, but those behind had to come to a halt behind the accident so notional times will be awarded for the stage.
Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion Meeke had led from the outset in mostly damp – and sometimes torrential – conditions, but was kept on his toes by Skoda's Guy Wilks for much of the event.
It was on Friday's final stage that Meeke made the crucial break – winning the Craigvinean 2 stage by 15 seconds having previously led by just 5sec. He pulled farther away this morning and was nearly half a minute clear by the midday service break. A spin on the very wet Achray stage gave Meeke a slight fright, but he had enough in hand to clinch his fifth win of the year by 20.7sec.
Although Alister McRae gradually drifted away from the top two, he was able to take Proton's first ever IRC podium in third place.
With the titles settled in Italy two months ago, many of the IRC S2000 regulars skipped Scotland. The British Championship frontrunners therefore took the spotlight, but Keith Cronin and Adam Gould were both out early – the former after several Friday incidents, while Gould spun on SS4 and later retired with an overheating engine.
Jonathan Greer will come home as top Group N driver in fourth, having been holding off the chasing Bogie before the late accident.