Kris Meeke raised his European profile with a starring role in the Bettega Memorial Rallysprint in Bologna.

The Dungannon driver did not win the end-of-season event in the specially constructed arena in the heart of the Italian city but he defeated two World champions on his debut appearance.

Meeke had been nominated by Citroen to drive a WRC Xsara for the Italian Errepi Racing team against a line-up which included former World champions Marcus Gronholm (Ford) and Petter Solberg (Subaru).

And, despite driving a now out-dated Xsara, he beat both of them to finish third in the night sprint competition, won by his former Junior World championship rival Dani Sordo, now the Citroen No.2. Italian Gigi Galli was second in an M-Sport Ford Focus.

Meeke topped his qualifying section for the Bettega Memorial Rallysprint itself, out-pacing Gronholm and Solberg as well as another Italian Simone Campedelli to earn a place in the semi-final.

Sordo was the fastest qualifier in the other half of the draw ahead of Galli who went through to the semi-final to face Meeke. Solberg, second in Meeke’s side of the draw, took on Sordo.

But the Ulsterman couldn’t get the better of the Italian and was eliminated in the semi-final while Sordo saw off the challenge of Solberg.

In an epic four-round final, which saw both drivers take two wins each, it was Sordo in a World championship-winning Citroen C4, who took the main prize with fastest time.

But Meeke was delighted with his performance, saying: “Considering it is 12 months since I last drove a WRC car it has been quite a remarkable weekend for me.

“The conditions were very tricky, very slippery, but it is a great event and I loved being part of it.”

Meanwhile, in the Race of Champions meeting at Wembley, Ireland were eliminated in the opening heat of the Nations’ Cup. They had the consolation of going out to the eventual winners, Germany.

A1GP championship leader Adam Carroll was beaten by seven-times World F1 champion Michael Schumacher in his first race inside Wembley Stadium and rally man Gareth MacHale lost out to Italian Grand Prix winner Sebastien Vettel.

Schumacher and Vettel went on to beat the Scandinavain team of Tom Kristensen and Mattias Ekstrom in the final.