Tweet FIA Junior WRC is ready to hit the Tarmac as the series touches down in the capital city of Zagreb for Croatia Rally this week (18 – 21 April). With over 300,000 spectators lining the stages in 2022 and 2023, Croatia Rally forms round two of five and, importantly, is the only sealed-surface fixture on the 2024 FIA Junior WRC calendar. However, despite being labelled as a Tarmac event, Croatia presents a unique variety of surfaces ranging from smooth asphalt to badly broken concrete. Fluctuating grip levels on the undulating roads pose a challenge, a ..read more

Tweet It is with deep regret that Motorsport Ireland confirm that Ireland is no longer being considered to host a round of the FIA World Rally Championship in 2025. On Monday April 15th Motorsport Ireland finally received confirmation from Minister Byrne, Minister of State for Sport, Physical Education and the Gaeltacht, that his Department would need “at least six months” to undertake further independent economic assessments and analysis of our proposal. The closing date for the bidding process with WRC Promoter GmbH was the end of Q1 this year, a date that Motorsport Ireland made both Minist ..read more

Tweet Jon Armstrong was full of praise for his new co-driver Eoin Treacy after the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy crew finished an impressive eighth overall on their FIA European Rally Championship debut in Hungary over the weekend. Armstrong and Rally Academy co-driver Eoin Treacy finished day one in tenth place in their first full day in a Ford Fiesta Rally2. Throughout Saturday’s loop of six gravel stages Armstrong and Treacy continued to learn their M-Sport-supported Ford Fiesta car, they raised the suspension settings at the rally’s midday service in Veszprem and despite a mid-afternoon ..read more

Tweet Reigning FIA Junior World Rally Champion William Creighton will take a significant step in his motorsport career, by tackling the FIA World Rally Championship WRC2 series in 2024 behind the wheel of an M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2. Creighton, from Moira in Co. Armagh secured a four-round WRC2 programme and Pirelli tyre package thanks to winning the coveted FIA Junior World Rally Championship title in 2023. Thanks to the support of the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy, Creighton and co-driver Liam Regan will bolster their campaign to seven events, enabling the crew to compete for the WRC2 a ..read more

Tweet Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver Eamonn Kelly got his second season of the Junior World Rally Championship off to a perfect start by taking third place in Rally Sweden at the weekend. The result matched his Acropolis Rally Greece performance last September and sets him up nicely for round two in Croatia in April – an event he won in 2023. One of a record 19 entrants, Kelly found himself in a battle with eventual winner, local ace, Mille Johansson and FIA Rally Star program member Romet Jürgenson as the Donegal man completed the podium in the category for identical Ford Fiesta Rall ..read more

Tweet Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver Eamonn Kelly is amongst a record-breaking entry list for the 2024 Junior World Rally Championship. WRC officials confirmed that 19 crews will take to the start line on next month’s Rally Sweden, the opening round of the five-event series. It is the largest JWRC entry in two decades. Donegal man Kelly, the outgoing Motorsport Ireland Billy Coleman Award Young Driver of the Year returns to the J-WRC for the second time. Kelly graduated to the FIA Junior WRC in 2023 having claimed the Junior British Rally Championship title the previous season. A cons ..read more

Tweet Reigning FIA Junior World Rally Champion William Creighton will take a significant step in his motorsport career, by tackling the FIA World Rally Championship WRC2 series in 2024 behind the wheel of an M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2. Creighton, from Moira in Co. Armagh secured a four-round WRC2 programme and Pirelli tyre package thanks to winning the coveted FIA Junior World Rally Championship title in 2023. Thanks to the support of the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy, Creighton and co-driver Liam Regan will bolster their campaign to seven events, enabling the crew to compete for the WRC2 a ..read more

Tweet Visitors to Autosport International 2024 at Birmingham’s NEC are greeted by this iconic Subaru Prodrive prepared Group A Impreza World Rally Car just inside the door. Many rally enthusiasts will recall the first appearance of the L555REP registration, when it brought Colin McRae and Derek Ringer luck by winning the 1994 Rally GB, beating team mate Carlos Sainz by 36 seconds. The number plate relates to the teams sponsors State Express 555 cigarette company and Spanish lubricants producer Repsol. A similar version from the same era was recently sold at auction in the US for $500,000. The ..read more

Tweet Motorsport Ireland has announced that Kerry, Limerick and the South East region have been selected as the host locations for a bid to bring the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) back to Ireland for the years 2025-27. Ireland previously featured in the Championship in 2007 and 2009 and today’s announcement is a major building block in securing a slot on the calendar for the next three years. Work on selecting a potential event base back started back in August 2023 with all 32 Motorsport Ireland affiliated clubs being invited to submit suitable locations in line with the requirements of t ..read more

Tweet Limerick’s bid to host the World Rally Championship (WRC) in 2025 was presented to officials from the WRC Promoters and Motorsport Ireland at Limerick Racecourse. The Patrickswell venue has been put forward by the Limerick Motor Club in association with the Shannon Region Conference and Sports Bureau as the base location for the prestigious international event which is returning to Ireland for the first time since 2009. If successful, Limerick Racecourse would be transformed into a 10,000 square metre service park and international media centre as well as the WRC fan zone for the duratio ..read more