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.

EVEN though Sebastien Loeb (Citroen DS3) leads the Monte Carlo Rally by a considerable margin, the world champion is taking nothing for granted given the vagaries of the weather and road conditions.

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.

WORLD champion Sebastien Loeb (Citroen DS3) made the perfect start to his Monte Carlo Rally title defence as he ended the first day over a minute ahead of Dani Sordo (Mini WRC).

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 World Rally Championship gets underway next week with the Monte Carlo Rally and according to Corkman Gerard Quinn, winning the manufacturers’ title remains the holy grail while having the world champion driver is also a tantalising prospect.

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.

THIS year’s World Rally Academy Champion, Craig Breen has unveiled his plans for next season that will see the Waterford ace campaign his Kel-Tech Engineering Ford Fiesta S2000 in the Super 2000 World Rally Championship (SWRC).

FORD’S challenger in the new look World Rally Championship, the Ford Fiesta RS World Rally Car, was launched at the Autosport Show at the NEC in Birmingham yesterday.

THE best-known rally in the world, the Monte Carlo Rally, celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, and the event has a great resonance for Irish competitors mostly initiated on Paddy Hopkirk’s victory in 1964.

THE demise of Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge both here and in Britain is a major blow, particularly to the young drivers, as it provided a perfect launching pad to their careers.

FROM a season where little went wrong, culminating with victory in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge for Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle, the current defence of their crown is proving almost the total opposite.

The Irish crew of Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle (Peugeot 207 S2000) were in sensational form on today's opening leg of the Rally Internacional de Curitiba in Brazil.

Irish interest in the Monte Carlo Rally ended earlier today when Kris Meeke (Dungannon) and his Killarney co-driver, Paul Nagle retired from the event on the first stage of the final leg.

Ireland's Kris Meeke (Dungannon) and Paul Nagle (Killarney) continue to make progress in the Monte Carlo Rally, the opening round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

The Irish crew of Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle, on board their Kronos run Peugeot 207 S2000, lie sixth at the end of the first day's action on the Monte Carlo Rally.

SEBASTIEN LOEB sent out an ominous message on the first full day of the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally by establishing a 56-second lead over his nearest rival.

Sebastien Loeb sent out an ominous message on the first full day of the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally by establishing a 56-second lead over his nearest rival.

Ireland and the UK will drop off the world championship calendar in 2010 after the sport’s governing body confirmed a new rotation policy.

WORLD Rally champion Sebastien Loeb had to fend off Citroen team-mate Dani Sordo as he opened his defence of the crown in Monaco.

The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland are to co-host the World Rally Championship next year with three days of racing in the border counties, it was revealed today.

Marcus Gronholm ended Sebastien Loeb’s winning streak on the Monte Carlo Rally today to take an early lead in the world championship.

World champion Sebastien Loeb completed a clean sweep of stage wins on the Monte Carlo Rally today but he was left needing a stroke of luck to keep his Principality winning streak alive.

World champion Sebastien Loeb’s bid for a fourth consecutive Monte Carlo Rally win was thrown off course by a heavy accident on stage six today.

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.

WITH an air of expectancy, the Pirelli Irish Tarmac Championship season begins tomorrow with the First Choice Flooring Galway International Rally. Several top drivers are involved in some type of change, a factor that adds further intrigue to the first of the eight round series.

World champion Sebastien Loeb resumed where he left off this morning by taking victory on the first stage of the day in the Monte Carlo Rally.

Sebastien Loeb seized control of the Monte Carlo Rally on the first day of the new season.

Details of the 2004 Killarney Historic Stages Rally were revealed at a launch last night at the Dromhall Hotel in Co Kerry.

Frenchman Sebastien Loeb saw his lead reduced but he still retains a commanding advantage after the opening stage of the Monte Carlo Rally this morning.

The first special stage of the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally in the French Alps had to be cancelled this morning for safety reasons.

Marcus Gronholm powered into a 30-second lead at the midway point on the opening day of the Monte Carlo Rally in the snow-covered French Alps.

ANDREW NESBITT and NIALL MAGUIRE are still uncertain about their title defences in 2003. Nesbitt is the reigning Toshiba Computers Irish Tarmac champion while Maguire is the Dunlop National Rally Champion.

Britain’s former world champion Richard Burns believes he will be much better prepared when he tackles the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally next month.

Sebastien Loeb is driving his heart out at the head of the field to try and clinch his first World Rally Championship event win but there is a possible cloud on the young Frenchman’s horizon.

Fabien Barthez has revealed he is eyeing a career away from football when he hangs up his gloves - as a professional rally car driver.

World champion Richard Burns heads back to the drawing board this week insisting he is still confident he has the car with which to successfully defend his rally crown.

Frenchman Sebastien Loeb faces an anxious and lengthy wait before discovering if his likely maiden world championship victory in today’s Monte Carlo Rally is confirmed.

Eamonn Byrne dominated the ninth round of the Hewison Autotest Championship at Carrick on Suir today. The former champion won all the day’s twelve tests and at the finish he was some 15 seconds clear of championship leader, J. J. Farrell.

Richard Burns admitted he had to be cautious in the opening stages of the Monte Carlo Rally.

Citroen’s Sebastien Loeb, last year’s world junior champion, has taken the lead after the first day of the Monte Carlo Rally today.

Watch out Michael Schumacher. The world’s top rally drivers might not match you for outright speed but they are hot on your trail in the race for TV coverage and the market in hi-tech boys toys in the ultra-competitive world of motor sport.