No Rally Northern Ireland In 2022

Craig Breen is among the many people who are disappointed that the World Rally Championship will not be visiting Northern Ireland in 2022. The works M-Sport Ford driver, who along with co-driver Paul Nagle finished a hard earned third on the Monte Carlo Rally in the new hybrid Rally1 Puma, said in a stage-end interview that he regrets the Championship will not be coming to these shores in August.

A deal could not be worked out for a 2022 WRC Rally Northern Ireland and Motorsport UK pulled its support of the event last month. The sports governing body blamed the Stormont Executive’s Department for the Economy as the main reason for a lack of financial commitment to the project.

It is now hoped that something can be sorted for 2023. Otherwise it looks as if the World Rally Championship may never return to the United Kingdom.

The Monte was decided on the final stage in favour of Sebastien Loeb’s Puma over Sebastien Ogier’s Yaris. The two “Monte Masters” were in a class of their own at the head of the field swapping the lead throughout the event. Following a puncture on the penultimate test rally leader Ogier went into the Power Stage 9.5 seconds adrift of Loeb. Then Ogier jumped the start incurring a 10 second penalty. Loeb was 9 seconds slower than Ogier on the stage, but with the penalty applied, Sebastien Loeb won the rally by 10.5 seconds. So close but M-Sport got the victory and the whole team were ecstatic at the Monte Carlo harbour finish.

At 47 Sebastien Loeb is the oldest driver to win a round of the World Rally Championship. This was his 8th Monte win (same as Ogier) and his 80th WRC victory. Loeb’s co-driver was Isabell Galmiche 50. Her day job is a maths teacher. She goes rallying for fun at weekends! This was her first WRC rally. It just happened to be the Monte Carlo Rally and she won it with the legend that is Sebastien Loeb! Isabell is the first female co-driver to win a WRC round since Fabrizia Pons on the same event with Piero Liatti in 1997.

Of course neither Sebastien's Loeb nor Ogier are doing a complete season this year, just selected events. That leaves the World Championship wide open between Breen (M-Sport) Rovanpera, Evans (Toyota) and possibly Neuville and Tanak (Hyundai) who were both disappointing in Monte Carlo.

The teams now head to Rally Sweden this month which should suit the Scandinavian drivers and Elfyn Evans who won last time it was held in 2020. Esapekka Lappi will be driving the spare Toyota this time out. He will be in a strong road position. Rally Sweden runs from 24-27 February.

If the start of the new WRC hybrid era is as exciting as it was on the Monte, then the live coverage of events on WRC+ will be unmissable this season. You should sign-up now if you haven’t already.

Back home and the sealed-surface 2022 Northern Ireland Rally Championship gets underway this month. North Armagh Motor Club are the organisers of round one at Kirkistown. Then the following weekend the Northern Ireland Gravel Rally Challenge starts in Fivemiletown. Two more rounds of this are due to be held in September.

After Kirkistown the NI Rally Championship moves to another circuit-type event at Bishopscourt in March. Round 3 on 21st May will be a closed-road event, The Maiden City Stages based in Strabane. Round 4; The Tyrone Stages Rally is due to run by Cookstown MC on private military roads at Magilligan near Benone on 4th June. The fifth and final round is the closed road Down Rally organised by Rathfriland MC. If any of these events fail to run, provisions have been made to organise a reserve event on 15th October.

The Galway International Rally kick starts the 2022 Irish Tarmac Rally Championship this coming weekend 5-6 February. A full entry list of 140 competitors contains five former champions and the current British Champion all in Rally2 or R5 cars. Alastair Fisher and Gordon Noble (winners last time out in 2020) are the number one seeds in their VW Polo GTI R5.

The rest of the 2022 Irish Tarmac Rally Championship calendar is as follows;

Round 2: West Cork Rally, Clonakilty (19-20 March)
Round 3: Circuit of Ireland Rally, Northern Ireland Easter weekend (15-16 April)
Round 4: Killarney Rally of the Lakes (30 April-1May)
Round 5: Donegal Rally, Letterkenny (17-19 June)
Round 6: Cork 20 Rally, Cork City (30-31 July)
Round 7: The Ulster Rally, Newry (19-20 August) With the news that there will be no WRC event in Northern Ireland, the one-day-of-competition Ulster Rally can now go ahead on its intended date of Saturday 20th August.

Let’s hope 2022 will be the year that motorsport in the whole of Ireland gets back to something approaching normality and that all the afore mentioned Rally Championship events can take place without too much disruption. COVID-19 and all its variants might still be with us, but we will just have to learn to live with it and carry on with our lives. All we have to worry about now is Russia!

Remember; Only sign-on as a marshal or official for an event if you feel that it is safe to do so. It’s up to you, we are all volunteers at the end of the day.

Rally Diary

Sat.19th February
Orchard Motorsport Kirkistown Stages

Round 1 of the 2022 McGrady Insurance Motorsport UK Northern Ireland Rally Championship. Organised by North Armagh Motor Club. Marshals required. Sign-on remotely via. rallyscore.net or contact Chief Marshal Caroline McGuinness. A maximum entry of 100 competitors are expected. Six stages around the Co.Down race circuit. First car starts 09.30am.

Sat. 26th February
Samsonas Rally Fivemiletown

Round 1 of the 2022 McGrady Insurance Motorsport UK Northern Ireland Gravel Rally Challenge. Organised by Omagh Motor Club. Not held last year because of the pandemic. Based in Fintona at the Ecclesville Equestrian Centre. Sign-on remotely via. rallyscore.net We are due to cover rescue and radio points plus other marshalling duties. Expect a big entry for this 9-stage loose surface event which uses the forests south of Fivemiletown on the Tyrone/Fermanagh border.

Sat. 12th March
McGrady Insurance Bishopscourt Stages

Round 2 of the Northern Ireland Rally Championship. Organised by Ballynahinch and District Motor Club. Sign-on via. rallyscore.net. Again except a full 100 car entry.