Last week’s Circuit of Ireland press conference at the old (and cold) Harland & Wolff drawing office where the Titanic was designed, was certainly a high level affair. It provided confirmation, if any were needed, that the Donnelly Brothers sponsored Circuit is moving into the big time again with its inclusion in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. The presence of NI First Minister Peter Robinson was further testimony to the prestige of the rally, with government/tourist board funding running at the thick end of a six-figure sum. Of course it has to be remembered that ‘joining the IRC club’ costs six figures plus!

The rally will run on Good Friday evening and then on the Saturday, so it will be one of the shortest Circuits ever. However, with spectator stages at the Titanic Quarter, and Lisburn Civic Centre, along with high profile start, finish and service venues in Belfast and Armagh, the rally should have a huge public profile. Add on the Eurosport coverage, which extends to 59 countries and 29 languages, not counting the Asian coverage, as well as domestic footage by RPM, and some idea of the magnitude of the event can be envisaged. Rally director Bobby Willis vowed to wake up the sleeping giant that was the Circuit, and he certainly seems to have cracked it, and is really ‘bringing the rally to the people.’

It will be fantastic to have the likes of Andreas Mikkelsen and Juha Hanninen here in the works Skodas. It is just a pity that there are so few Super 2000 cars in Ireland to give the visitors a race. However there are some. Craig Breen reckons it will be tight for him getting back from Rally Portugal, but he’s determined to make it. Alastair Fisher is going to try for a deal to drive the M-Sport Fiesta S2000, Jonny Greer’s S2000 has not as yet been sold after all, so he is a possibility, as is Robert Barrable.

The Circuit still is of course a round of the Tarmac Championship, although the WRC machinery will have to run under a different permit, but add everything together, including the NI Championship and it should be an exciting event. Indeed, it will be interesting to compare the Irish WRC men’s stage times with the best in the world S2000 drivers.

The Valvoline MI National Forestry Championship got off the ground on last weekend’s Donegal Forestry event. There may not have been a huge entry, around 43 cars, but it was a good rally and augurs well for this year’s series. Garry Jennings, co-driven by Barry McNulty this time, started his season off well, with a convincing win. Stephen Wright equalled Garry’s time on the opening stage, but couldn’t catch him throughout the rest of the day. Only Ian Cochrane was able to interrupt Garry’s string of fastest stage times. Fisher Engineering man Ian scored fastest on stage 6. Jennings’ performance was all the more remarkable as he only acquired this 17-year-old, ex John Cairns GpA Impreza a few days before the rally. The car hadn’t turned a wheel for a year, and the McKinstry mechanics had only hours to fettle it. After sharing the lead at the end of the first stage Stephen Wright was a solid 2nd throughout the remainder of the day’s 10 stages.

Colin Britton admitted to having to shake off his own personal rust as he battled along in 3rd. Indeed Colin came under pressure towards the finish from Conor Harvey. Indeed Letterkenny man Conor surprised many with his scintillating drive in a Lancer that he had acquired just before the event. Not only had he no experience of the car, he had never previously really driven ‘4-wd’.

Frank Kelly/Liam Brennan came out tops of the 2-wd protagonists, and took 6th overall. This was Frank’s first trip with a 2.5 litre engine, and he found it very hard to get used to over the gravel. He also bent a stub axle a couple of miles into the first stage, and had to nurse the car for four stages until the first big service in Donegal town. Frank said afterwards. “The car was hard to control, the engine is so aggressive. It is really a tarmac set-up. The Elite gearbox in the car has done something like 33 rallies, so I have a new one ordered, with more spread ratios, to let the engine’s torque do the work. I really think a 2 litre is all you need in the forests. Still, I was well chuffed to win 2wd, and everything including your notes, worked out really well.”

This weekend it is the turn of the Galway International, and the top end of the entry as published is holding up well. No. 1 seed, last year’s winner and current Tarmac Champion Tim McNulty has tested his Subaru over a stage near Derek McGeehan’s Draperstown workshop and reports all in order. No.2 seed Gareth MacHale will be making a welcome return to the stages, his Focus WRC having been over to M-Sport last week for a re-fettle. Next up in the list is Derek McGarrity, Eugene Donnelly, Daragh O’Riordan and Darren Gass, all in world rally cars. Any of that top six could win, and indeed there is an array of top drivers in GpN and Mk 2 Escorts lined up behind the WRC machines who could certainly spring a surprise.

The stages are narrow and ‘guttery’ in places, and could favour the brave! One of the major talking points of the rally is sure to be the performance of Eugene Donnelly in the new Mini WRC. In theory the car shouldn’t be as powerful as the best of the Subaru’s. However if conditions are slippy and Eugene has a good run, the ultra modern technology of the car, with it’s very high cornering potential and fantastic brakes, could prove to be a potent combination. Indeed, it could be a fascinating contest, and the fact that current Tarmac Champion McNulty has three former Champions on his tail augers well for resurgence in the fortunes of the Tarmac series.

Maynooth’s Kevin Barrett was mooted to be entering Galway, but he has decided to concentrate on the National series this season, driving his usual Triton Showers backed Subaru. Kevin will also be devoting some of his rally energy to helping his 18-year-old son Paul get going with his rally career. Paul plans to contest the Valvoline MI Forestry series this year in an Evo 6. He has entered the North Armagh club’s Kirkistown Rally, to drive a Citroen C2, in order to gain the final signature for his competition licence.

Once again the Omagh Motor Club has been honoured by the MSA. They were presented with the ‘Club of the Year’ Award at the January 20th MSA Night of Champions ceremony at the Royal Automobile Club in London. In addition, Omagh MC member Barry O’Neill was awarded the FIA Outstanding Official of the Year accolade. Barry has been doing an enormous amount of work in recent years in building up the standing, training standards and professionalism of the Motorsport Marshalling Partnership in NI.
Also receiving an award at that very special MSA Night of Champions was Tyrone’s Steven Ferguson. Steven was then honoured at the ANICC prizegiving on the Saturday night when he was voted the winner of the ANICC Motorsport Award. Stephen, son of former top autotest driver Norman Ferguson, had an outstanding year and was a triple autotest champion – winning the British Championship, the NI Championship and the Motorsport Ireland Hewison Southern Championship in his Mini Special.

A very popular and special presentation at the ANICC prizegiving was the Lifetime Achievement Award to Austin Frazer. Fermanagh man Austin has done outstanding organisational work over the years, from the early days of the Donegal Rally, to being Chairman of the ANICC on four occasions, as well as being a stalwart of his home Enniskillen Club. Also he has scored many International wins as a co-driver, with drivers such as Cahal Curley and the late Bertie Fisher.

The four Irish co-drivers who headed over for last weekend’s Sno*Drift rally in Michigan all made it to the finish. The rally was won outright by David Higgins in a Subaru. Paddy Robinson finished best of the Irish quartet, co-driving Joe Burke to 4th in his Lancer. Carl Atkinson co-drove Chris Duplessis to best 2wd in their Fiesta. Carl had the trauma of the house where he was staying burning down when he was on the recce, fortunately his rally bag was saved from the inferno. Martin Brady and Derek Brannigan finished 20th & 21st respectively. Martin’s driver, Tingwu Song, whose parents own a chemicals factory in China, was caught speeding by the rally organisers on the recce, and wasn’t allowed to see the remainder of the stages. Martin re-wrote the organisers notes, in ‘Patterson Pace Note’ style, and with the help of the other three Irish co-drivers was able to pinpoint the difficult places, which helped get them through the rally. Conditions were icy rather than snowy.

Martin went over early for the rally for a test, and was able to squeeze in a visit to the Ford factory in Detroit, which he says was mind-blowing. Interestingly the rally had an oversubscribed entry, 70 contenders for the 60 places. Perhaps rallying, which has been such a low profile sport in the US for many years, is picking up. Certainly there is a new leadership to the Championship, and the rallies are getting a bit more exposure, particularly on the Internet. The new management has also put up the cost of a competition licence to $300.

This season’s Citroen Racing Trophy Ireland for drivers of Citroen C2’s and Max’s will once again have a generous €40,000 prize fund, spread over six rounds – West Cork, the Circuit of Ireland, Killarney Lakes, Donegal, Ulster and Cork ‘20’. In addition, there is a brilliant end of season prize for the highest placed under 23 year old. This will take the form of a trip, sponsored by Citroen Racing and Pirelli to the tune of €10,000 worth of support to compete on the French Rally Du Var. Defending Citroen Racing Trophy Champion, Scott McElhinney, is likely to defend his title. Other top names in the mix include Kieran Daly, David Carney, Joe McGonigle and Kevin O’Connor. Once again the Citroen Racing Trophy is backed by Charles Hurst Citroen, Pirelli Citroen Racing and Total.

There is no word as yet of a UK Citroen Racing Trophy, and indeed there was a feeling that some of the funding for that may have been channelled into running Marty McCormack in a Citroen DS3 on the British Championship. Indeed judging by his form last season in winning the British Championship Junior title in a Citroen DS3, Marty could certainly be a candidate for the overall title this year. Unfortunately there has now been somewhat of a freeze on any new motorsport expenditure by the French car giant, which leaves Marty in limbo, at least for the moment.

Obituary – Danny Caddye - Date of Birth: 22/04/43
The death has occurred, following illness, of Danny Caddye, one of the original members of Donegal Motor Club. Danny has been actively involved since the club was founded in the early Seventies, with the Rally of the Rosses, which evolved into the Donegal International. Danny was very much a hands-on rallying person. He rallied himself, and helped many other drivers over the years. He took a great interest for example in the late Eamonn Harvey and his Avenger. He had his own garage and in recent years a van business. He was originally from Letterkenny and then moved to Kilmacrennan. He served as Chairman of the club and also acted as Scrutineer at many events. Danny was well known, respected and liked. Few people realised just how much work he did behind the rallying scenes. Matt Doherty for example, CoC of the Donegal International recalled that Danny always gave him massive support. Matt also said at the Letterkenny Cathedral funeral service, that when Danny became your friend, not an acquaintance, you had a real friend for life. Danny came out of rally retirement in 2007 to compete on the Donegal International, in a charity drive to raise funds for Cancer Care. He raised over €60,000. It was typical of him, that when he did something, he did it right. He will be greatly missed. To his wife Anne, his sons Aidan and Donal and all his family and friends, we offer our deepest condolences.