It was a weekend to remember for Lisburn Rally driver Phillip Morrow, who not only won a round of the Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge for the fifth time this season, but also finished third of the British Rally championship runners and collected two special awards: The Pirelli star driver nomination which will take him through to a final at the end of the year with the prize of a fully-funded drive in 2008 and the award for the most promising young driver of the year presented by the Northern Ireland Motor Clubs.

The event was the Philip White Tyres Ulster Rally, which was held on 31st August & 1st Spetember. The rally hosted round six of the Evolution Challenge, the fourth round of the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship and the seventh round of the Global Group Irish Tarmac Rally Championship ? the sum of which meant that many of the best drivers from the UK and Ireland were competing.

Based in Armagh, the event featured 16 timed special stages totalling 121 competitive miles on closed public roads within a 30-mile radius of the town. Starting on Friday afternoon, the first leg saw six stages before the overnight halt, with a further 10 before the finish on Saturday evening.

In keeping with the event?s tradition, unpredictable weather conditions were to make tyre choice and the judgement of grip levels a lottery. Unperturbed, right from the word go Phillip, together with his co-driver and brother Simon, was the class of the field, not only leading the Evo Challenge runners by 37 seconds, but also setting a series of times quick enough to put him third in the BRC standings after the first loop of four stages.

The last two stages of the evening saw Phillip extend his Evo Challenge lead to nearly two minutes as others had problems, notably his main rivals for the Mitsubishi Championship: Julian Reynolds, who had encountered wetter roads than the young Ulsterman and Seb Ling, who had briefly gone off and into a field on SS6.

But it could have well been a different story as Phillip entered the service area for the last time on Friday, when he felt something break in his car?s transmission. Fortunately, with 45-minutes to effect repairs his team were able to change the transfer box and fix the problem in readiness for the next-day?s 10 stages.

All started well on Saturday morning, right up until SS10, when Phillip ran wide, clipped a bank and squashed an intercooler pipe which reduced his car?s turbo boost dramatically. Although loosing 30 seconds the problem was fixed at the next service halt and he was able to continue at full-power.

Now focussed on getting to the finish unscathed the remaining six stages seemed to be never ending as Phillip drove at a calculated pace ? not too fast to risk an incident or a mechanical problem, whilst at the same time maintaining a speed that would keep him well ahead in the Evo Challenge and third in the British Championship standings.

When he finally crossed the finish line back in Armagh a delighted Phillip said: ?I am so pleased to have won another round of the Evolution Challenge. It really puts me in a great position now with just two rounds to go. I was happy with my pace on the stages, especially as it?s a tarmac rally and I regard gravel as my better surface. Also, to finish third of the British Championship runners, plus claim seventh overall is a great result for me.?

At this point, unbeknown to Phillip beforehand, he was awarded with the Pirelli Star Driver nomination. Then, later that evening at the event?s prizegiving ceremony, Phillip also received the award for the most promising young driver of the year, presented by the Northern Ireland Motor Clubs.

?What a fantastic weekend this has been. To win all of these awards is better than I could have ever imagined. But I am really pleased to have won another round of the Evo Challenge and take another step closer to the works Mitsubishi prize drive next year.?

With two rounds still to go and dropped scores to be taken into account Phillip has to finish 5th or higher on the next event, the International Rally Yorkshire on 6th October, to secure the 2007 Evolution Challenge title and win the prize that is regarded as the best prize in British rallying ? the chance to become a Mitsubishi works driver in the 2008 British Rally Championship.

Phillip?s 2007 campaign is supported by Morrow Fuels, Pirelli Tyres, Lyons European Haulage, Lagan Motor Factors, DGM Motorsport, Kelly?s Toyota, Proflex, PIAA, Speedline Corse, Drenth gear kits, BADMC and RPM Promotions.