The Joule Donegal International Rally ended in tragic circumstances early yesterday when Manus Kelly, who won the event for the last three years, lost his life after his Hyundai i20 R5 crashed and left the road on Stage 15, Fanad Head.

A competitor has been killed in a crash at the Donegal International Rally this afternoon.

In front of one of the biggest crowds of spectators in recent times, Waterford’s Craig Breen and his Killarney co-driver Paul Nagle took their Ford Fiesta R5 to victory in the Corrib Oil Galway International Rally, the opening round of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.

Two former Tarmac champions are to switch to R5 cars for next year’s Irish Tarmac Rally Championship in a move that should ease pressure on the Tarmac Rally Organisers Association (TROA).

After a dramatic opening on the final leg of the Easter Rally in Antrim, when the Subaru WRC of overnight leaders Derek McGarrity/Paddy Robinson failed to start after transmission troubles, Monaghan’s Josh Moffett (Ford Fiesta R5) and his Wexford co-driver Andy Hayes took the spoils and consolidated their lead in the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.

In a week where the FIA announced changes to the World Rally Championship for 2017, the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship Organisers (TROA) were hit with a backlash to their proposed rule changes for 2016 — a ban on the current World Rally Cars from winning the series — with the announcement that the Donegal International Rally was withdrawing from the series.

The make-up of next season’s Irish Tarmac Rally Championship is one of the main topics on the Tarmac Rally Organisers Association (TROA) agenda in Dublin on Sunday.

Rally Italia Sardegna, the penultimate round of the World Rally Championship, continues today against the backdrop of the withdrawals of two manufacturers and a change in driver line-up.

Competitors in the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship and the British Rally Championship will traverse the same stages under their respective banners of the Ulster Rally and Rally Northern Ireland this afternoon.

Elevation to the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) series has raised the profile of the Donnelly Group Circuit of Ireland Rally.

The Irish Tarmac Rally Championship celebrated its 50th different winner of a round of its series since its inception in 1978 when Darren Gass won last weekend’s Safety Direct Galway International Rally, the opening round of the 2012 campaign.

CONCERNS are growing about the future of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.

Eamonn Boland has won the Ulster Rally and clinched his inaugural Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.

Former World Rally champion Colin McRae is to appear at the Ordnance Survey Ireland Rally of the Lakes 2005, which will take place over the May weekend.

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