An early Christmas present — that is how Waterford’s Craig Breen described the announcement that will see him remain with Peugeot Sport next season and along with tackling the European Rally Championship (ERC) campaign, he will also compete in seven rounds of the WRC2 category within the World Rally Championship.

Although not exactly threadbare, Declan Boyle’s title aspirations in the Dunlop National Rally Championship hinge on securing maximum points from all three remaining rounds.

NEXT year’s Donnelly Group Circuit of Ireland Rally is one of four new rounds in the global Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) series.

THERE is unlikely to be a stampede of Irish applicants for the second intake at the FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy.

The Irish duo of Kris Meeke (Dungannon) and Paul Nagle (Killarney) in their Peugeot S307 have finished second in the Barum Czech Rally Zlin, round eight of the 2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge.