Irish Tarmac season preview
The top asphalt series has25r5s for its season opener.
Over £3 million. That’s the second-hand value of the 25 R5 cars that have entered the Galway Rally, in what can only be described as one of the greatest turnarounds in rallying history.
The Irish Tarmac Rally Championship is almost identical to last year, in terms of calendar and rules. It’s had R5s at the front of the field for two full seasons now. No major changes have been made. There were four R5 cars that finished last year’s championship: that has increased by 525% for Galway 2019.
Not only has it added numbers, but quality too. Five past ITRC champions will start in Galway, an unprecedented number. In that five are key players Declan Boyle (Ford Fiesta R5) and Donagh Kelly (Skoda Fabia R5).
Both have stuck with WRC cars since 2016 when the ITRC decided that WRCS wouldn’t be eligible for the overall championship, and that R5s would be the top class.
It wasn’t a universally popular move, but clearly something has shifted for 2019.
“World Rally Cars are getting a bit long in the tooth if I’m honest,” says Kelly, the 2015 Irish Tarmac and National champion.
“I would get more enjoyment if I finished a second behind the eventual winner of a rally if we were both in R5 cars. Winning is nice, of course it is, but you don’t have the same feeling if you have two minutes in hand over the next car.”
With the likes of Kelly, Boyle and now Manus Kelly – the three-ina-row Donegal winner switching to a Hyundai i20 – all in R5s, it’s given the rallying scene in Ireland a shot in the arm. If drivers want to compete against the best, now is the time to trade-in and go R5.
The Moffett brothers, Sam and Josh, have won the last two series and they will be favourites to fight for the championship with the returning Alastair Fisher, Donagh Kelly and Boyle. But it’s still uncertain as to who will be the main championship players, especially when many of the R5 converts have kept their WRC cars for an attempt at Donegal, where they will drop a round by not scoring points in their R5s.
What is certain is that Galway will be as hard fought as the championship this season.
“The entry for Galway is something else, I’m gutted we’re not able to be there,” says 2011 British champion David Bogie, a regular in Donegal who had been intending on starting in Galway before work commitments foiled his plans.
“I think you have to go back to around 2006 when Colin [Mcrae] took the Metro to Donegal for an entry as strong as in Galway. We’ll definitely try and get over to do some rounds later in the year.”
Kelly may end up being a ringer in the championship, and he’s joined by ex-citroen WRC works driver Craig Breen for Galway, but he also could do more rounds in his Ford Fiesta R5. In a similar car, WRC Esports champion Jon Armstrong is back in an R5 for the first time in 16 months.
The entry is quite spectacular and arguably close to the 2006 list mentioned by Bogie, which featured the likes of Mcrae, Mark Higgins, Matthew Wilson, Eugene Donnelly and Andrew Nesbitt.
It’s a spectacular turnaround for an event which is wet and windy on the west coast of Ireland in February. And it didn’t run last year due to funding concerns.
“There was always the potential for this [the increase in number of R5s in the Irish Tarmac series] to happen,” says ITRC championship manager Paddy Flanagan.
“If you go back to the mid-2000s, there was a few pounds about and there was great interest in rallying, but there weren’t 25 WRC cars entering then.
“It’s difficult to put your finger on a single reason although I think Declan and Donagh switching has played a big part in it.
“There’s five past champions entered in Galway. I don’t think that’s ever happened.
“We were always confident the event would run in some shape or form, and they were determined to run a rally this year and that has shown in the entry.”
Favourite for the slimmed down event – reducing from two days of action to one – is double winner Garry Jennings in his Subaru Impreza S12B. But WRC cars are not out of reach of rapidly driven R5 cars, and he won’t have it easy. Joe Mcgonigle is another WRC entrant in his Mini John Cooper Works WRC. Desi Henry and Jonny Greer will all be in contention as well as those aforementioned.
There’s many questions to be answered about the protagonists for this year’s series. But one thing is for certain. Galway will be one of the best rallies to feature in the UK and Ireland this year. ■