IRELAND SEEKS TO RESOLVE RULES SCHISM
Chiefs seeks to clarify eligibility of left-hand drive and right-hand drive machines
Irish Tarmac Rally Championship chief Paddy Flanagan has urged sanctioning body Motorsport Ireland to make every R5 and Rally2 car eligible to win international events in Ireland.
Currently, only left-hand-drive cars can compete for overall honours.
Flanagan expressed his frustration at the impasse and declared that Motorsport Ireland must sign off on the rule change. “They have the ability to make the change many drivers are looking for,” he told Motorsport News.
“I, and many others, have been fighting for this rule change for the best part of three-and-a-half years now. And from an Irish Tarmac Championship point of view, we have tried everything within our power to get this over the line, we have explored every avenue, but we have run out of road.”
Tarmac champions Garry Jennings and Tim McNulty both withdrew from last month’s West Cork Rally in protest at the lack of movement, citing concerns for their safety and that of spectators.
“I don’t feel comfortable being forced to use a left-hand-drive R5 car and I know there are others like it,” said Jennings. “People I have chatted to about this – people who know absolutely nothing about rallying – can’t understand why I can’t use a right-handdrive car in Ireland to win a rally.”
There currently is a loophole that creates parity for all R5 and Rally2 cars – but this relies on every motor club such as Galway, Killarney and Donegal being part of the European Rally Trophy (ERT).
“If a rally like West Cork or Donegal is also a round of the ERT, that levels the playing field… but we don’t want to have to rely on that,” Jennings said. “The significance of something like this for the championship would be massive because it would open it up to more drivers.”
A spokesperson for Motorsport Ireland (MSI) said: “We would be hopeful that an agreement can be reached this year and that all Irish internationals in 2023 will run in the same format, allowing all [R5 and Rally2] cars to run together. A meeting was recently held with the clubs that run international rallies in this jurisdiction to explain this.”