Rally Ireland 2009 entices revamp

MOTOR SPORT RALLY IRELAND 2009: DETAILS of next year's revamped Rally Ireland, which replaces the famous Monte Carlo Rally as the opening round of the 2009 World Rally Championship (WRC), have been released.

Following FIA's motorsport's governing body) guidelines, the WRC 2009 will be launched at Stormont Castle in Belfast on Saturday, January 24th. Works drivers from Ford, Citroen, Subaru and Suzuki, plus the various private teams, will participate in a special daylight head-to-head speed event, with two cars at a time racing over a longer circuit than that used for last year's night stage at Stormont.

There will be a number of match races so spectators will see the top drivers in action several times. This will be a stand alone event and not a part of the actual rally.

A "shakedown" test session will be held near Sligo on Thursday, January 29th, before the ceremonial start of the rally at Enniskillen Town Hall at 7.30 o'clock that evening.

With 19 special stages and an overall route of 1,407 km, the rally will visit seven counties (in alphabetical order): Cavan, Donegal, Fermanagh, Leitrim, Sligo, Roscommon and Tyrone. The Service Park will again be based in Sligo, at the 52-acre site of the Institute of Technology, where the competing cars will twice check in on all three days for servicing and the inevitable repairs.

Of the rally route, clerk of the course Gordon Noble said: "We are pleased with out new route which will provide a real challenge to the drivers, good spectating options for the fans and spectacular images for TV viewers around the world."

A new stage with good spectating points near the Co Cavan village of Glangevlin will be run twice on the Friday. A special stage in Arigna will be followed by a new passage control in Boyle, the latter supported by a festival organised by the local community and Roscommon Co Council.

Leitrim will again feature stages at Glenboy, Aughnasheelan and Lough Gill, with most of the Arigna stage also being run in Leitrim. The Murley and Fardoss Stages in the Tyrone-Dungannon district will be run for the first time during the hours of darkness. The Saturday stages are in the Ballinmallard-Omagh-Dungannon area.

On Sunday morning, the Donegal Bay Stage will be followed by a new street stage in Donegal town, starting at lunchtime.

Rally Ireland is licensed by Motorsport Ireland and run in conjunction with the Association of Northern Ireland Car Clubs (ANICC), with sponsorship from Fáilte Ireland and the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL). The event is also funded by Sport NI through its Sports Events Programme, which is designed to assist economic development and improve the international image of Northern Ireland.

Galway Motor Club's Safety Direct Galway International Rally, the traditional start to the Irish rally year, takes place two weeks before Rally Ireland 2009. It is expected that some of the works teams will compete in the Galway event in preparation for Rally Ireland, making it a virtual feast of rallying for Irish fans.