The popularity of Sunday’s Germaine’s of Baltinglass Hotel Rally is reflected by an entry of 130 competitors that will be led away by top seed and favourite Kilkenny’s Enda O’Brien (Ford Escort).

Bord na Móna is to invest €1.2bn on expanding its services over the next 13 years, with the expenditure going towards strengthening its wind and solar energy, biomass and fuels interests.

Denied victory in last week’s third round of the British GT Championship at Rockingham by a controversial penalty, Cork’s Matt Griffin turns his attention to tomorrow’s World Endurance Championship (WEC) second round at the Spa Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.

ESB and Bord na Móna have announced a deal to develop four solar farms across the Midlands to power 150,000 homes.

Tyre choice for the final pair of stages proved crucial and decisive as Ballylickey’s Daniel Cronin and his Killarney co-driver Shane Buckley won the Banna Beach Resort Kerry Winter Rally for the second time in three years.

Although it is almost a quarter of a century since Peadar Hurson won the National Rally Championship on board an Opel Ascona 400, the Warrenpoint driver remains a potent threat in Irish rallying.

Bord na Móna plans to build a pilot solar energy farm in Offaly next year and is currently in talks with a number of potential development partners with the view to gaining a foothold in the burgeoning subsector of the new energy market.

Craig Breen suffered a setback in his bid to win the European Rally Championship when he retired his Peugeot 208 T16 on the road section towards the penultimate stage of the auto24 Rally Estonia, round five of the series.

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.

Although they led the Tralee-based Fels Point Circuit of Kerry Rally from the start, the Kerry/Cork duo of Alan Ring and Adrian Deasy in the Munster Joinery liveried S12B Subaru WRC had to push hard through the final stage to ensure victory.

Former Irish National and Tarmac Group N champion, Kerry’s Alan Ring, admits that it’s taking him time to adjust the power and pace of the Mel Evans S12B Subaru WRC. 

A bog area used by Bord na Móna in the Midlands has been converted into a €115m wind farm with enough power to generate electricity for 45,000 houses.

Knowing exactly what was required, it was a case of precision rather than pace that helped Cork driver Owen Murphy land his second National Forest title in three years as his fourth place points finish on the Glens of Antrim Rally secured the Valvoline Irish Forest Rally Championship.

Motorsport: Three young drivers — Josh Moffett, Owen Murphy and Desi Henry — will battle it out in tomorrow’s Glens of Antrim Rally to become the Valvoline Irish Forest Rally champion.

Cork driver Matt Griffin and his AF Corse team-mates, Briton Duncan Cameron and Italian Michele Rugolo, were out of luck in the 4 Hours of Estoril, the final round of the European Le Mans Series (ELMS).

A two-minute road penalty cost Waterford’s Craig Breen (Peugeot 207 S2000) the overnight lead in the Rallye International du Valais in Switzerland, the final round of the European 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.

IT’S one of the most magical hotel arrivals in Ireland. There you are, driving across the country with the weight of the world on your shoulders, when all of a sudden, you pull up at a little slipway dipping into the River Suir.

Cork’s Matt Griffin is upbeat ahead of this weekend’s fourth round of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) at Silverstone.

In a close finish to the Modern Tyres Mourne Rally, round five of the Carryduff Forklifts Northern Ireland Rally Championship, Drew Stewart (Ford Escort) took a 12-second victory over the Mitsubishi of Andrew Stewart.

Remarkably, for the fifth time in recent years, the Carlton Hotel Circuit of Kerry Rally, the third round of the Dunlop National Rally Championship, ended in a tie-break.

There is no real explanation why the Carlton Hotel Circuit of Kerry is one of the most hotly contested events in Irish rallying. On four occasions in recent times the rally has ended in a tie-break situation and three have involved current leader of the Dunlop National Rally Championship, Niall Maguire.

The revamped Dunlop National Rally Championship begins on Sunday with the Abbeyleix Manor Hotel Rally and a capacity entry for the nine stages around Rathdowney.

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.

UNDER pressure throughout the event, Waterford’s, Craig Breen (Ford Fiesta) and his Welsh co-driver, Gareth Roberts were crowned the FIA WRC Academy Champions after clinching the title with victory in Rally GB, the final round of the series to claim the top prize worth €500,000.

THE Irish crew of Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle (MINI WRC) begins today’s second leg of Rally GB, the final round of the World Rally Championship, in fifth place following a solid run through yesterday’s opening three stages.

SPECULATION is rife that next year’s Circuit of Ireland Rally will be included in the global Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) series.

THE Valvoline Irish Forest Rally Championship could be decided in tomorrow’s Omagh-based Bushwhacker Rally, the penultimate round of both the Irish series and the Hankook Northern Ireland Rally Championship.

TIM McNULTY and co-driver Paul Kiely (Subaru WRC) won their sixth event in the Dunlop National Rally Championship with victory in the Auburn Lodge Hotel Clare Rally to clinch the national series.

WITH an unbeaten record in the current Dunlop National Rally Championship, Tim McNulty, can clinch his first major title on Sunday’s eighth round of the series in Clare although he will need a little help from his rivals.

ALTHOUGH three drivers have won the National Rally Championship and the Irish Tarmac Championship (ITC) at different times, no driver has ever won the two championships in the same season.

REVIVED just three years ago, tomorrow’s Tyre Stop Kerry Rallysprint has already found a perfect niche in the motorsport calendar.

THE final round of this season’s Dunlop National Rally Championship, the Fastnet Rally, has a new base and headquarters at the Westlodge Hotel in Bantry.

A LATE entry from Armagh’s Darren Gass (Subaru WRC) has added extra spice to Sunday’s Carlton Hotel Circuit of Kerry Rally in Tralee, the second round of the Top Part West Coast Championship.

TWO of Ireland’s most talented drivers, Waterford’s, Craig Breen and Fermanagh’s, Alastair Fisher compete in the WRC Academy series that begins this weekend alongside Rally Portugal, the third round of the World Rally championship.

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.

ORGANISERS of the Kenmare Historic Rally are monitoring the weather conditions ahead of their event on Sunday.

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

WELSH ace Mel Evans (Subaru WRC) has already made Irish rallying history by becoming the first ever overseas driver to win the national rally series.

IT was a historic day for Irish rallying yesterday as the Welsh crew ofMel Evans/Patrick Walsh (Subaru) became the first overseas crew to win the Dunlop National Rally Championship.

WITH the margin for error in both the Dunlop National Rally Championship and the Dulux Trade British series diminishing as both championships near conclusion, this weekend’s Dominic Quinn Body Repairs/Sligo Park Hotel Rally and Rally Isle of Man are of major significance to their respective title protagonists.