Maiden City Win For Henry

No less than 32 top class Rally2/R5 cars were on the 99 strong list of starters for the Maiden City Stages Rally last month. The six-stage closed-road event was round 3 of the 2024 NI Rally Championship. Sponsored once more by Eakin Bros. of Claudy through their Brian James Trailers franchise, the rally was based in the town of Claudy and the three repeated stages were in the Donemana/Claudy area of Counties Tyrone and Derry. BMMC/BRMC members were on duty covering rescue, timekeeping, radio points and other marshalling duties. My job was to cover a midpoint radio on the longest stage, the 7.07 mile SS2/5 Altishane which started near Donemana. On the day the weather was good, cold but dry all day with sunshine. There were a couple of incidents but nothing serious during both runs of the test which started roughly twenty minutes later than scheduled. We were still finished before 4pm which was good.

Last time this closed-road rally ran in 2022 Desi Henry was the victor in his Fiesta Rally2. This time out the Kilrea driver dominated the event to take a first rally win since he changed to a Citroen C3 Rally2. Henry was co-driven by Donegal man Shane Byrne. Callum Devine/Noel O’Sullivan were second 14.8 seconds back in their VW Polo GTI R5. Third place and only 1.1 seconds behind Devine was enough to give Jonny Greer and Niall Burns maximum points in the Northern Ireland Championship with their Citroen C3 Rally2. Fourth place went to the VW Polo of Michael Boyle/Darragh Mullan while the similar car of Aidan Wray and Paddy Robinson was fifth. Jason Dickson and Martin Brady finished sixth in their Fiesta Rally2. They were the second NI Championship registered competitors to finish. Damien Tourish/Domhnall McAlaney were fastest of the 2WD cars all day and finished seventh overall in their Ford Escort Mk.2. Declan Boyle (Citroen C3) Aaron McLaughlin (VW Polo) and Joseph McGonigle (Citroen C3) completed the top ten.

Unfortunately number 7 seed Stuart Biggerstaff had a huge accident on SS4 which completely destroyed his Ford Fiesta R5. Thankfully neither he nor his co-driver Anthony Nestor were injured. Another leading retirement was that of Jason Mitchell. The Victoria Bridge man had been running in fourth place overall when his VW Polo R5 stopped after SS5 with mechanical problems.

No Rally Ireland in 2025

A statement last month from Motorsport Ireland confirmed that there will NOT be a round of the 2025 WRC in Ireland. With no decision on funding forthcoming from the Irish Government by the final deadline set by the WRC promoter GmbH of April 15th, MI President Aiden Harper said that they had no alternative but to withdraw their bid to host a round of the FIA World Rally Championship in Ireland from 2025-2027. Although the deadline should have been March 30th, Motorsport Ireland were granted a two-week extension to see if the required funding could be finalised by then. The Irish Government NOW say they would need at least another six months to make up their minds on possible funding for such a venture. This is of course no use to the current Motorsport Ireland bid. Needles to say Aiden Harper is very disappointed after all his hard work, but he hasn’t given up and hopes to be able to try again to land an Irish round of the WRC at some time in the future.

The only hope of a British Isles return to the World Rally Championship any time soon would now appear to be the possibility of running Rally GB in Scotland. Apparently this is a project which the Scottish government and Motorsport UK are keen to support going forward. Whether this would be a tarmac or a loose surface event remains to be seen. Wales will host a tarmac round of the 2024 European Rally Championship when Rali Ceredigion runs from August 30th-September 1st.

Looking Back

20 Years Ago

The 2004 Buy & Sell Circuit of Ireland International Rally had 55 starters and 25 finishers. The three-day event ran from Saturday 10th to Monday 12th April. It was round 2 of the Pirelli Irish Tarmac Championship and started and finished in Enniskillen. There were 23 stages and everything went smoothly. I was Chief Timekeeper and we were running an updated electronic system which worked very well thanks to troubleshooters Declan and Dessie McAleer. We had 11 BMMC/BRMC club members on time controls plus help from Donegal, Maiden City and Magherafelt Motor Clubs as well as the rest of the McAleer family.

The Easter Stages Rally ran on Saturday with 90 cars competing in the NI Championship. A third 2-day National & Historic Rally took place on Sunday and Monday for non-homologated cars. Derek McGarrity led the International Rally from start to finish and Kevin Lynch dominated the Easter Stages, both were in Subaru Impreza S9’s.  Bangor’s Jay Jordan won the National Rally in his Escort Cosworth.

10 Years Ago

As they had done in 2012, Skoda once again dominated the International section of the 2014 Circuit of Ireland Rally with their “bomb proof” Fabia S2000. Two years ago when the IRC (Intercontinental Rally Challenge) came to call, the podium was filled with three of the Czech cars. This time the European Rally Championship counting event was won by the future WRC star Esapekka Lappi and his fellow Finn Janne Ferm with their German teammates Sept Wiegand/Frank Christian second and Robert Barrable from Swords was third with Scottish co-driver Stuart Loudon in a Ford Fiesta R5.

In the National Rally, which was due to run over all 18 stages, Donegal cousins Declan and Brian Boyle were the victors in a Subaru Impreza S12 and they took maximum points in the ITRC, but only after long-time leaders Garry Jennings and Rory Kennedy, in an identical car crashed out on the final stage. Second were Donagh Kelly/Kevin Flanagan in a Ford Focus WRC while third placed Derek McGarrity/James McKee claimed top points in the Northern Ireland Rally Championship with their Mini WRC.

The two-day rally started and finished in Belfast with 31 cars in the International ERC section and 83 in the National Rally. I was covering radio on three stages including SS1 Loughries on Good Friday and the Lisburn Power Stages on Saturday. The Newtownards town-centre TT stage closed day one and apparently there were 25,000 spectators, BMMC marshals were on duty covering crossing points and time controls. In the end 19 cars finished the ERC section while 47 made it to the end of the National Rally.

Rally Diary

Sat. 18th May.
“Go” Tour of the Sperrins

Round 4 of the 2024 Northern Ireland Rally Championship. Based in Magherafelt this event is organised by Magherafelt and District MC. Six (three repeated) closed-road stages totalling 42.14 miles are planned in counties Derry/Tyrone, similar to last year. We are providing rescue, radio cover and timekeepers as usual as well as stage marshals.