The 2023 Circuit of Ireland International Rally will be the third round of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship. First held in 1931 it is the third oldest rally in the world.
The rally originated in 1931 as the Ulster Motor Rally. It was run from multiple starting points, in a manner similar to the Monte Carlo Rally. After several years in this format, it transitioned into a 1089-mile circuit, essentially following the Irish coastline and starting and finishing in Bangor, County Down.
Sadly I don’t think we’ll ever see that happening again in our life time.
Headquartered in Cookstown, the traditional Easter fixture will be held over one day instead of the usual two in an effort to minimise costs for the 120 competitors that are set to take part.
The first two special stages bring the rally to the Sperrin mountains before cars head back for a short service halt at the Cookstown 100 pits.
The field is once again packed with talent including Meirion Evans and Callum Devine in a brace of Volkswagen Polo GTI R5s, Citroen C3 Rally2 exponents Jonny Greer, Cathan McCourt, Desi Henry and Rob Barrable and former Tarmac champion Garry Jennings in a Ford Fiesta Rally2.
West Cork Rally winner Sam Moffett is back in his new Rally2-spec Hyundai i20 N, while his younger brother Josh continues with the older R5 version of the Korean supermini that took him to the Irish Tarmac title last year.
And he should be in top form as Josh also won the Circuit of Kerry just last week. The finish ramp is at 5pm later that evening.
