Motorsport: Sweeping changes to Irish rally calendar

The Irish Tarmac Rally Championship series is unaffected.

Indeed, the ITRC has been revamped with the traditional final round, the Cork ‘20’ International Rally, moving to the August bank holiday weekend, as the penultimate round, although it appears the Munster Club organisers didn’t specifically apply for a date change.

While there are only three forest events proposed for 2022, the governing body is keen to add another event to the gravel series.

With the regulations for the ITRC series set to be ratified by Motorsport Ireland, the green light is still awaited for a national rally championship or forestry series even though all those events will still go ahead as individual rallies.

Meanwhile, Motorsport Ireland, along with the Irish Motorsport Federation (IMF) and Motor Sport Council (MSC), are of the opinion that the motions of no confidence issued by almost a third of its affiliated clubs have been dealt with by way of changes implemented at club meetings and the first Motorsport Ireland congress.

They stated that should the clubs submit their completed affiliation agreement for 2022, it would be a statement of their confidence in the governance of the sport and the authorities would regard the matter as closed.

Ahead of next week’s election of a new president of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) to replace Jean Todt, Motorsport Ireland said it will not publicly support either Mohammed Ben Sulayem (UAE) or Graham Stoker (Britain) for the post.

Motorsporrt Ireland president John Naylor told the Irish Examiner both candidates addressed the Motor Sport Council and Irish Motorsport Federation and it was decided not to make a statement of support for either.

Motorsport UK, its British counterpart, confirmed it will support Ben Sulayem.

Elsewhere, following a self-nomination process, four drivers have been shortlisted for the 2021 Young Racing Driver of the Year award.

Wicklow’s Max Hart, 20, Donegal’s Jordan Kelly, 22, Wexford’s Jack Byrne, 18, and Offaly’s Alex Dunne, 16, will vie for the prestigious Sexton Trophy and a first prize of €50,000. The winner will be announced on December 20, and all four will be included in the Team Ireland development programme that nurtures and supports young drivers.