DANIEL Barritt was celebrating in Monaco today after a dream debut in the World Rally Championship.

The 24-year-old navigator from Hapton guided Japanese star Fumio Nutahara to victory in the production car class on the Monte Carlo Rally, which finished yesterday.

"It's a fantastic result for the whole team. Fumio did a great job in very difficult conditions, I just had to get him round," said Daniel.

Although it was their first event together, the pair took the lead from the end of the sixth stage and never looked back.

Their Advan-PIAA Mitsubishi Evo finished the three-day event, the opening round of the WRC, 17th overall and six minutes ahead of their nearest class rival, Barritt's former driver David Higgins.

Overall victory went to Finn Marcus Gronholm, making his debut in a Ford Focus WRC, who finished just over a minute ahead of reigning world champion Sebastien Loeb.

l Full report and pictures in Thursday's Motorsport.