West Cork joins Ulster Rally in 2019 BRC series
IT now looks likely the British Rally Championship will make two trips across the Irish Sea next season following confirmation that the West Cork Rally will be included in the 2019 calendar.
The full schedule has still to be announced but BRC manager Iain Campbell has revealed the West Cork event next March will be part of Britain’s premier series. It is expected to be listed alongside the Ulster Rally, a long-established part of the Championship.
It will mean the BRC and the Irish Tarmac Championship will join forces for two events next season.
The announcement comes on the heels of the shock news that the Rally Isle of Man has been cancelled. It was due to take place next week as round five of the series but the Manx government has refused to sanction the required road closing orders.
In light of the Rally Isle of Man difficulties, it is not expected to be part of a new-look 2019 BRC calendar, with the rounds now rumoured to be the Cambrian Rally, West Cork, Pirelli International, Ypres Rally in Belgium, Ulster International and the Galloway Hills Rally in Scotland.
Meanwhile, former Irish Tarmac champion Garry Jennings makes a rare trip outside Ireland this weekend for the Rallye National Le Béthunois in France.
Jennings and co-driver Rory Kennedy, in their WRC Subaru, are seeded No.4 in a list headed by Citroen factory driver Stephane Lefebrve in a WRC Xsara.
Josh Moffett is virtually certain to be the new Tarmac champion, but it seems he may come up short in his efforts to emulate brother Sam and win all three major Irish Championships in a single season.
He only needs to start the final Tarmac round in Cork to take the title and after his controversial win on the Lakeland Rally in Fermanagh at the weekend he is assured of the Irish Forestry Championship after his closest rivals, Barry McKenna and Andrew Purcell, failed to finish.
But the Irish National (tarmac) Championship looks like being out of reach after he crashed out of the Sligo Rally on Sunday as, although Declan Boyle also retired after an accident, the two-time champion from Donegal has a stranglehold on the title.