WRC Rally Ireland Preview

Coming up is the 15 round of the 2007 WRC - the all new Rally Ireland. The championship chase is heating up for the drivers as Marcus Grönholm clings to a four point advantage over Sébastien Loeb. In the Manufacturer’s championship, Ford can clinch a repeat title if they can muster at least 3 points on this weekend’s event.

Also in the Production car championship, Toshi Arai has not nominated this penultimate round. He has only two championship rivals and will clinch another PWRC crown if he can maintain an 11 point advantage. To keep their respective hopes alive Mark Higgins must win and/or Gabriel Pozzo finish 2nd or better.

Since this is the debut of Rally Ireland there are no stats to post. So I decided to put some interesting tidbits together. Enjoy!

This is the 3rd running of Rally Ireland. The first event was won by Matthew Wilson and Michael Orr in a Ford Focus. Last year Eugene Donnelly and Paul Kiely won the WRC candidate event in a Toyota Corolla WRC. Both events were based in Sligo, which is also the host of this year’s WRC Rally Ireland.

This rally will feature 20 stages, with 14 different stage locations. 8 of those will be held in the Republic of Ireland and six will be across the border in Northern Ireland. This event joins Monte Carlo and Rallye Sanremo as the only cross border WRC rallies.

Ireland Drivers Statistics

World Champions: none

Rally Victories: none

Podiums: none

Points: 13 – 30th all-time
Billy Coleman (10)
Gareth MacHale (3)

Point Finishes: 2 – tied for 32nd all-time
Billy Coleman (1)
Gareth MacHale (1)

Did You Know? The best finish by an Irishman was Billy Coleman’s 4th place drive on the 1985 Tour de Corse in a Porsche 911 SC RS. His co-driver was Ronan Morgan who is now a promoter for Rally Ireland.

One to Watch: Eugene Donnelly (IRL) – Although it will be his WRC debut, this Irishman is the defending race winner. He also won the 2006 Irish Tarmac Championship and will be in a Skoda Fabia WRC run by Reid Motorsport. With so few tarmac specialists, a solid run by Donnelly could see him score on native soil.