Former International Racing Driver of the Year award winner Matt Griffin, who has racked up some 300 races in a Ferrari GT, has accepted a new role outside of his continuing competitive career that will see him race at 23 events this season.

Having secured what seemed a comfortable victory in the Rallye Du Valais, the final round of the European Rally Championship, Craig Breen (Peugeot 208 T16) was subsequently handed a post-event two-minute penalty that dropped him to second.

Despite having rolled their Citroen DS3 WRC seven times in yesterday’s shakedown stage, Tyrone’s Kris Meeke and his Killarney co-driver Paul Nagle (Citroen DS3R3) made it to the start of last evening’s Super Special in the Lotos 72nd Rally Poland, round seven of the World Rally Championship.

Triple national rally champion Niall Maguire has conquered the Sligo Rally on several occasions — as has his son Shane, who won last year — yet it has been nine years since Maguire Snr’s last triumph and, indeed, his last national victory.