The Ulster driver had just stepped off the podium on Saturday afternoon when he was told the news of his mentor's tragic death in a helicopter crash.

Meeke, winner of the Ulster International a fortnight ago, had produced " a McRae-like" drive to steer a little 1600cc Citroen C2-R2 into third place on the two-day event. Invited to take part by local co-driver Johny Blom, Meeke (pictured), had stunned the field by leading at the end of the first leg.

But the faster Saturday stages, with long straights, were too much for the under-powered Citroen and he was overhauled by the Porsche 911 GT3 of winner Anton Werner and the Renault Clio G3 of Gilles Schammel.

"I caught them on the hop a bit on Friday night," said Meeke, "but on the faster stages on Saturday I couldn't match them.

"The Citroen was giving away 70 horse power to the Renault and 300 to the Porsche! I drove the car to its maximum, not even a 10th left anywhere, and never put a foot wrong but, in the end, you can't beat horse power."

Meanwhile, in Belgium, Adam Carroll managed to salvage sixth place in the GP2 sprint race. He had looked certain of a podium finish in the feature race on Saturday until he tried to overtake Luca Filippi for second place and spun into the barriers.