BY MARTIN WALSH
WITH the restructuring of the Irish Rally calendar now in its second term, the forthcoming O’Connell Group Cork ‘20’ International Rally (September 29th) is the last major rally in Cork county this year.
With the Fastnet Rally not on this year’s Irish rally itinerary, the Cork ‘20” offers many local competitors the opportunity to compete on home territory without having to travel outside the county.
This year’s Cork ‘20’ event returns to a more traditional date after two season’s running on the August bank-holiday weekend. The choice of that particular date surprised many and its initial foray in 2022 didn’t generate many positives. Last year, it was relatively similar.
Whatever the reasons and there are some that are compelling, the date never really worked for the Munster Car Club organisers or indeed Irish motorsport and brought financial headaches. One of the theories behind the August move was that other Tarmac rounds fell on bank-holiday weekends with Galway now also benefiting from the new February bank-holiday. However, the likes of the West Cork only has a bank-holiday Monday on rare occasions and the Donegal International doesn’t fall on a bank-holiday weekend, so that theory was flawed.
Regulations for the Cork ‘20’ – one of the oldest rallies in Europe – were published earlier this week, and the event will be based at the Corrin Events Centre outside Rathcormac that has a fine service park facility.
The format is relatively straightforward as the club is using it as a template to return to its halcyon days. Primarily, it’s the final and deciding round of the Samdec Securities Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, the burgeoning Stellantis Cup Rally Championship and the Acesigns Southern4 Rally Championship.
In a statement, the club has acknowledged that last year’s event fell short in some key areas and while this year’s edition is of a single day duration, it still offers full ITRC Championship points for registered crews.
‘Entries fell away significantly late on in the run up to last year’s event resulting in a depleted entry which was very disappointing for the club given the excellent feedback it received from competitors,’ the statement said.
The event will consist of eight challenging fast flowing stages totalling 110km with a mere 120km of road mileage. According to the organisers, it’s a compact route with quality stages featuring a mix of fast flowing stages with some technical stuff that will test driver and machine to the limit.
While former winner (2016) Keith Cronin is set to compete as he chases the Irish Tarmac Championship title that he also won the same year, several West Cork drivers are expected to compete. Dunmanway’s David Guest (Ford Fiesta Rally2) has been the top local driver in the last two occasions, finishing eighth last year and fourth in 2022. However, replicating any of those positions is a big ask this time around as he explained.
‘You only have to look at the top three in the championship at the moment – Keith (Cronin), Matt Edwards and Callum Devine – they are at a very different level. Then there’s the Moffett brothers Josh and Sam, Desi Henry and Eddie Doherty. I won’t have any seat time ahead of the Cork ‘20’ so that will be a disadvantage, I will be well out of practice,’ Guest said.
The Dunmanway driver confirmed that the Cork ‘20’ is likely to be his last event this year. He added: ‘It’s a pity really as there are still three months remaining but with no Fastnet Rally this year, that’s just the way it is.’
Others such as Clonakilty’s Cal McCarthy (Citroen C3 Rally2) and Kilcrohane’s Jer O’Donovan (Ford Fiesta R5) and possibly Dunmanway’s Conor McCarthy, who debuted a Ford Fiesta Rally2 on the West Cork Rally earlier this year, are set to fly the West Cork flag. Lyre’s Tim O’Donovan (Toyota Corolla) is amongst the entries in Class 11R.
