Bulgarian brothers Yassen and co-driver Dillyan Popov finished this year's premiere in the OMV BIXXOL Rally Team in Ireland in the top-ten.

Despite tyre damage on the first day of the penultimate run to the P-Car FIA World Rally Championship the OMV pair took a solid ninth in class, 29th overall.

The team with Stepan Vojtech and Michal Ernst had even more reason to rejoice since fifth overall place meant that the two Czechs (also in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) were able to score WRC-points for the second time this season after Mexico.

Following the first day Rally Ireland Bulgarian brothers Yassen and Dillyan Popov hit problems on the sixth special stage dropping back to 14th place.

But the OMV duo never gave up and recovered place by place. At the end of leg two on Saturday the Popov's were already back up in tenth place. And on the final day they even managed to gain one more place.

“Despite the tyre damage on the first day we can be really satisfied with this rally," explained Yassen Popov. "At these adverse conditions a place within the top ten, only just behind scoring ranks, is a great success that has shown us that we are competitive."

The Czech OMV duo Stepan Vojtech and co Michal Ernst were spared mishaps à la Popov and perfectly acclimatised to the slippery road conditions from the outset.

While not taking excessive risks Vojtech stayed within scoring ranks in the P-Car FIA World Rally Championship from the first day of the Rally Ireland on and finished the run in excellent fifth in class, 20th overall, beating his previous best result (Mexico - 6th) and score WRC-points for the second time this season.

“I am especially happy to have crossed the finish line at such a difficult rally where top drivers like Grönholm and Stohl had their problems," Vojtech stated. "And to have scored 4 points as an added bonus. My thanks naturally also go to the team that did a perfect job."