Irish rallying history will be made in Carlow this weekend at the fourth round of the Triton Showers Motorsport Ireland National Rally Championship.
The regular championship protagonists will have something new to contend with as Welsh driver Meirion Evans will give the Toyota Yaris Rally2 its Irish debut on the May 19 event.
Although Evans is a regular in Ireland, he is not registered for the Irish National Rally Championship, instead, he is using the nine-stage rally as a high-speed shakedown for the following weekend’s Jim Clarke Rally, the third round of this year’s British Rally Championship.
Still, the appearance of Evans will give the National regulars plenty to think about. Josh Moffett is the top seed for the Seven Oaks Hotel-sponsored rally.
He and co-driver Keith Moriarty took a start-to-finish victory on the Birr Rally in mid-April, to mark two in a row, following their win on home ground in Monagan a few weeks earlier.
The Monaghan victory was also a historic occasion as it was the first time a Citroen C3 Rally2 won a round of the Irish National Rally Championship. Their closest rivals, in terms of the championship and event wins, are Josh’s brother Sam and his co-driver James O’Reilly.
The Hyundai i20 Rally2 crew are leading the championship on the back of a Mayo victory and two-second places in Monaghan and Birr.
West Cork’s Daniel Cronin and his co-driver Donnachadh Burke were second in Mayo and fourth in Birr and remain very much in the title hunt. A win for them would also mark the first win of the season for the Volkswagen brand.
Adding to the inter-marque rivalry in Kilkenny man Eddie Doherty and co-driver Tom Murphy. They drive a Skoda Fabia R5 and going by their third overall on the recent International Rally of the Lakes, they are not far off a maiden National win either.
Former National champion Declan Boyle and co-driver Patrick Walsh add to the Citroen C3 tally and will start at seven.
The top ten is completed by the VW Polo of Aidan Wray VW Polo GTI R5, the Ford Fiesta R5 of Gary Kiernan and Michael Boyle who is in another Polo. Triton Showers man Paul Barrett starts at 11 in a third Citroen.
The modified category carries extra intrigue this year as the Carlow Car Club is celebrating 20 years of the Ford Escort Challenge. The Darrian T90 GTR of Kevin Gallagher and Ryan Moore Moore lead the very strong field and will be hard to beat given recent form. The Donegal-based crew arrive in the South East on the back of a category win in Birr.
