This year’s 93rd event see’s four stages ran twice on Saturday 30th March 2024 and will be based in the Dungannon area. The event will, once again is part of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship (Round 3).
The small but mighty organising team have been working relentlessly to organise what promises to be another great event of road closed Rallying. Some ‘old’ stages that were last used 12 years ago will be revisited, and the organisers are delighted to be able to return and bring back some great locations.
The event is sticking with a one-day sprint format and will challenge competitors over 67 miles. Event Director Graeme Stewart confirmed that talks have taken place with other motor clubs to do an expansion to the event for 2025.
Keith Cronin entered this year’s Irish Tarmac Rally Championship hoping to bed himself back into home competition. Two rounds in, the Ballylickey driver has blown away the opposition with two dominant victories in Galway and West Cork.
As the seven-round Samdec Security International series heads north to the Circuit of Ireland, who can stop Cronin and co-driver Mikie Galvin from making it a hat-trick of Irish Tarmac wins in 2024?
Seeded first, 2024 Circuit of Ireland winners and reigning Irish Tarmac Champions, Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan will hope the Tyrone stages reignite their championship challenge.
The Circuit was Devine’s first win of the season 12 months ago. The Volkswagen Polo R5 man secured his best-ever Galway Rally result in February and started out on top after West Cork’s opening day of action.
A puncture and retirement dashed Devine’s West Cork’s hopes, giving him an uphill task to overhaul Cronin’s early ITRC advantage.
Matt Edwards and David Moynihan are seeded third for the Circuit of Ireland after a crucial runner-up finish in West Cork. The three-time British Rally Champion utilised the three-day rally to get back up to speed after his Galway retirement and his second-place result was just reward for a faultless display of driving. Now Edwards will hope to show he can match Ireland’s top drivers over a single day of high-paced rallying.
Running fourth on the road, Josh Moffett and Andy Hayes are still hunting for their first victory in the Citroen C3 Rally2. The Monaghan driver struggled in Galway and West Cork’s wet conditions but showed his stage-winning speed when the roads dried out. If the sun is out over Easter weekend, perhaps it will entice Moffett to push for that maiden win aboard his Citroen.
Ryan Loughran, Jonny Greer, Desi Henry, and Cathan McCourt will be familiar with the Tyrone terrain and on their day more than capable of challenging ITRC’s frontrunners. With Garry Jennings completing the top ten, the 2024 Circuit of Ireland is set to be a fascinating day of rally action.
Kevin Kelleher leads the McEvoy Motorsport Modified ITRC standings after two solid results on the opening two rounds. Tomas Davies topped off what has been a strong start to his Irish Tarmac campaign with his first ITRC win in several years on the West Cork Historic Rally. Davies scored third- and second-place points in Killarney and Galway respectively but went one better in tough West Cork conditions earlier in March.
