Craig Breen and co-driver Paul Nagle scored their fifth win from six rounds of the Irish Tarmac Championship in the Ulster Rally, to clinch the title for the first time with one round to spare.

The Waterford-Killarney pairing completed the nine stages of the Ulster International Rally based in the Newry-Banbridge area 20 seconds ahead of current British champion Matt Edwards and Patrick Walsh.

Ewardss held second position throughout the rally, and stayed close to Breen over the opening stages, but the lead gradually increased and he never really looked as though they could mount a serious challenge.

Breen’s four earlier wins were at the wheel of Ford Fiestas, but Ulster was the first time he has driven a Hyundai i20 in this country, following on from their recent overseas outings for the South Korean manufacturer, which culminated in seventh place in Rally Finland earlier in the month, a round of the World Rally Championship.

Another impressively quick drive from Callum Devine landed the Derry driver with his third podium finish of the year, with the former Young Rally Driver of the Year less than a minute behind the winners at the finish in his Fiesta.

There is just the Cork 20 International to go and Breen will be trying to make it a clean sweep of wins in every round of the Tarmac Championship at the end of September.