The Irish pair of Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle (Citroen DS3 WRC) topped the leaderboard after last evening’s two stages of Rallye Monte Carlo, the first round of the World Rally Championship.

Irish rallying reaches a watershed this weekend with the Acesigns Signmakers Cork “20” International Rally that begins tomorrow.

The top Irish competitors had disappointing outings over the weekend both in the World Rally Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 

Motorsport: Out of the reckoning for a podium position after sliding off the road on Friday, the Irish crew of Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle (Citroen DS3 WRC) recovered to win the Power Stage and finished 10th overall in Rallye Monte Carlo.

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

The Acesigns Cork 20 International Rally, the final round of the Clonakilty Blackpudding Irish Tarmac Championship, resulted in a record-breaking four-in-a-row victory for Midleton’s Daragh O’Riordan and his Derry co-driver Tony McDaid (Ford Fiesta WRC).

Boosted by their podium finish on Rally Finland, Tyrone’s Kris Meeke pictured and his Killarney co-driver Paul Nagle will push for another big result on the ADAC Rallye Deutschland that begins today in Trier.

On their debut for the factory Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team, Dungannon’s Kris Meeke and Killarney’s Paul Nagle netted a podium finish along with a bonus point from the Power Stage of Rallye Monte Carlo, the first round of the World Rally Championship.

Over terrain that will be relatively familiar, Keith Cronin knows that any advantage he can accrue over Frenchman, Sebastien Chardonnet will be a bonus as they go head to head for the most lucrative prize within the WRC3 feeder category of the World Rally Championship.

The Irish crew of Eamonn Boland/Mickey Joe Morrissey (Subaru) had an untroubled run through the penultimate leg of the Monte Carlo Rally where world champion, Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) seems set for yet another victory.

Irish driver, Craig Breen (22) is second in the S-WRC registered competitors at Rally Sweden after yesterday’s nine stages.

World Rally S2000 Championship leader Craig Breen (Ford Fiesta S2000) seeks to consolidate his position in Rally Sweden, which gets under way in earnest this morning.

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.

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.

IN his first full season in Irish rallying’s Group N showroom category, Monaghan’s Shane Maguire has already learned some salutary lessons.

INTERCONTINENTAL Rally champions, Kris Meeke and co-driver Paul Nagle, bid farewell to the Peugeot UK team at this weekend’s Rally of Scotland.

BRITISH RALLY champion, Keith Cronin is not that accustomed to playing the percentage game, mostly because the Cork driver hasn’t been required to adopt such a role.

ROUNDS of the Irish Tarmac, National and British Rally Championships take centre stage over three days beginning today with the former and the latter dovetailing on the Rally Isle of Man International.

Although they dropped time on today's opening stage, Gareth MacHale/Brian Murphy (Ford Focus WRC) have extended their advantage through the second leg of the Letterkenny based Topaz Donegal International Rally, that consisted of eight stages.

Gaining just a fraction of a second over their rivals on the opening stage, Gareth MacHale/Brian Murphy (Ford Focus WRC) went on to dominate the opening leg of six stages of the Letterkenny-based Topaz Donegal International Rally.

Derry's Eugene Donnelly and his co-driver, Paddy Toner, in a Skoda Fabia WRC, have won the Jim Clark Memorial Rally in Scotland.

IrishTarmac Championship leader, Eugene Donnelly in his Skoda Fabia WRC leads the Jim Clark Memorial Rally in Scotland after the conclusion of last night's six stages.

Today's seven stages of the Ordnance Survey Ireland Rally of the Lakes in Killarney saw very little between the top contenders as they battle for supremacy in this, the third round of the Irish Tarmac Championship.

Although each of the first four stages of the Circuit of Ireland Rally produced a different leader, Eugene Donnelly and his co-driver Paddy Toner were the dominant force throughout today's eight stages.

Dubliner, Gareth MacHale on board his Ford Focus WRC, heads up the entry for next week's Larsen Circuit of Ireland Rally where opposition includes a trio of drivers that have already won this iconic event.

FOLLOWING last evening’s Super Special in Oslo, Rally Norway begins in earnest today.

As expected, five times World rally champion Sebastien Loeb has brought his Citroen C4 to victory in Rally Ireland today.

The second day of Rally Ireland was yet another display of domination from rally leader, Sebastien Loeb (Citroen C4 WRC).

Sebastien Loeb's lead at Rally Ireland over Citroen colleague Dani Sordo has increased to 1 minute 12 seconds after Saturday's first three stages across Tyrone and Fermanagh.

The rest of the first day's action at Rally Ireland has been abandoned due to flooding.

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.

The top two awards in Irish motorsport were announced this afternoon at the Champions of Irish Motorsport Awards at the Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport Hotel.

SAFETY is paramount in any sport, but particularly in motorsport. From the start of next season, the HANS device will be compulsory in Irish rallying.

Three years after winning the Dunlop National Rally Championship, Kilkenny’s, Ray Breen (Ford Focus WRC) has won the Hankook Tyres Irish Forestry Championship.

With their fifth victory of the season, Eamonn Boland and Damien Morrissey (Subaru WRC) have won the Murphy Construction/Weathermaster Cork '20' International Rally, the final round of the Global Group Irish Tarmac Championship.

Newly crowned Irish Tarmac champions, Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Subaru WRC) hold a 20 second lead at the end of the opening day of the Murphy Construction Cork '20' International Rally.

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

Wexford's, Eamonn Boland and co-driver, Damien Morrissey (Subaru WRC) are on course to clinch the Irish Tarmac Championship.