McNulty, the first driver to win both National and Irish Tarmac titles in the same season, will make a competitive return to rallying on next month’s Corrib Oil Galway International Rally.

Tomorrow night’s Carbery Navigation Trial in Leap in West Cork is the second round of the Munster Navigation Trial Championship. Local crews will be expected to dominate the 115km event although Limerick’s Alan Shinnors and George Shinnors (Subaru), who won last week’s Cork Startrek Navigation Trial, should again be to the forefront.

The Clonakilty Blackpudding Irish Tarmac Rally Championship got underway last weekend with the Colm Quinn BMW Galway International Rally.

Motorsport: Kelly and Flanagan Donegal’s Donagh Kelly and his Derry co-driver Kevin Flanagan (Ford Focus WRC) won the Colm Quinn BMW Galway International Rally, the opening round of the Clonakilty Blackpudding Irish Tarmac Championship.

Motorsport: It’s six years since a Tarmac champion made a successful defence of the series.

Former triple British Rally Champion Keith Cronin is delaying his assault on the WRC2 category of the 2015 World Rally Championship.

Few, if any, drivers have more experience of the terrain within the Cartell.ie International Rally of the Lakes than Denis Cronin, himself a winner of the Killarney spectacular in 2010.

Even with three British Rally Championship titles under his belt, Keith Cronin had not been able to progress his career due to a lack of funding.

Rally competitors can air their views on the raft of changes proposed in the Protection of Sport document at a meeting in Athlone on Sunday.

Organisers are stepping up their promotion of the Willie Loughman Memorial Forestry Rally.

Galway’s Dean Raftery and Monaghan’s Daniel McKenna and Stephen Wright have been shortlisted for the 2012 Billy Coleman Award with a top prize of €50,000.

At the end of the first leg of Rally Finland, round eight of the World Rally Championship, the Irish crew of Craig Breen/Paul Nagle (Ford Fiesta S2000) hold fourth place in the S-WRC category.

WATERFORD’S Craig Breen (Fiesta S2000) made the best possible start to his SWRC title challenge with a category victory in the Monte Carlo Rally that was won by Citroen’s Sebastien Loeb.

WITH five out of six fastest stage times, Sebastien Loeb (Citroen DS3) extended his overall lead in the Monte Carlo Rally to a minute and 37.2 seconds as the battle for second between Dani Sordo (MINI WRC) and Petter Solberg (Fiesta WRC) hotted up.

THE performance of reigning World Rally Academy champion, Craig Breen, will be monitored closely on the Monte Carlo Rally, the opening round of the World Rally Championship that begins today.

THE conflict between Motorsport Ireland and Kart Ireland continues, with the latter claiming one of the five karting venues have nailed their colours to the mast of the governing body by agreeing to host three events – two championships races and the C Plate races – organised by the Irish Karting Club (IKC).

IRISH interest in next month’s Monte Carlo Rally, the opening round of the 2012 World Rally Championship, has been severely diluted as Tyrone’s Kris Meeke and his Kerry co-driver, Paul Nagle do not appear on the 89-strong entry list that was announced earlier this week.

REIGNING Dunlop National Rally champion, Mel Evans and current Irish Tarmac championship leader, Tim McNulty, both in Subaru WRCs, go head to head in Sunday’s opening round of the Dunlop series, the Abbeyleix Manor Hotel Rally that also marks the beginning of the Top Part West Coast Rally series.

IT seems there is no room for manoeuvre in the Irish Motorsport calendar that cannot accommodate the re-scheduling of its more high profile events.

YOUNG guns, Keith Cronin, 23, and Craig Breen, 20, represent the changing demographic of Irish rallying as the Citroen Irish Tarmac Championship gets underway tomorrow with the Safety Direct Galway International Rally.

A record-equalling fifth Irish Tarmac Championship title is one of Eugene Donnelly's goals this season.

At the end of the first leg of the Safety Direct Galway International Rally, the opening round of the Irish Tarmac Championship, Eamonn Boland (Subaru WRC) holds a 23.8 second lead over the similar car of Kevin Lynch.

Ireland’s World Rally Championship top points scoring driver in 2007, Gareth MacHale (Ford Focus WRC), leads the entry for the Circuit of Ireland that begins on Friday, March 21.

Mark Higgins and co-driver, Rory Kennedy fashioned a superb comeback to take a final stage victory in the Galway International Rally, the opening round of the Irish Tarmac Championship.

Marcus Gronholm’s participation in the Galway International Rally, the opening round of the Global Group Irish Tarmac Championship, was to gain experience of the Irish roads ahead of next November’s Rally Ireland.

Today’s eights stages of the First Choice Flooring Galway International Rally, the opening round of the Global Group Irish Tarmac Championship featured a terrific duel between World rally ace, Finland’s Marcus Gronholm (Ford Focus WRC) and the Subaru WRC of Derry driver, Eugene Donnelly.

Some of the biggest names in world motorsport are in Paris this weekend for the annual Race of Champions.

Eugene Donnelly’s defence of his Irish Tarmac Champions crown has begun well and at the end of the first leg of the Galway International Rally his Toyota Corolla WRC is 26.5 seconds ahead of the Subaru WRC of Tim NcNulty with Eamonn Boland (Ford Focus) 39.8 seconds behind in third.

Mid-way through the opening leg of the Galway International Rally, defending champion, Eugene Donnelly in his Toyota Corolla WRC leads the Subaru WRC of Tim NcNulty by 2.6 seconds with Eamonn Boland in a Ford Focus a further 32.5 seconds adrift in third.

Eugene Donnelly and his co-driver, Paul Kiely (Toyota Corolla WRC) have won the Galway International Rally by a margin of 35.4 seconds from Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Ford Focus WRC).

Entering the final four stages, Eugene Donnelly in his Toyota Corolla WRC has regained the lead in the Galway International Rally,

Joint Irish Tarmac champion, Eugene Donnelly and his co-driver, Paul Kiely have regained the lead of the Galway International Rally on today’s eighth and final stage of the first leg.

Five times Irish Tarmac champion Austin MacHale and co-driver, Brian Murphy, have a 4.1 second lead in their Ford Focus WRC after the completion of six stages of the Galway International Rally.

Finnish driver Tapio Laukkanen, in his Subaru Impreza WRC S7, is top seed for the Ordnance Survey Ireland Rally of the Lakes 2004.

A terrific contest that was ultimately decided by seven tenths of a second saw Finland’s, Tapio

After six stages of the Galway International Rally, the opening round of the Pirelli Irish Tarmac

Five times Irish tarmac rally champion, Austin MacHale has acquired a Ford Focus WRC03.

Tyre company, Pirelli, are to sponsor the Irish Tarmac Championship that will begin with the Galway International Rally at the beginning of next month.

THE start of the Irish Tarmac Championship looms — beginning with the Galway International Rally — and Pirelli Tyres are the series sponsor.