Motorsport: Organisers of the Irish Forest Rally Championship received a major boost at their awards ceremony in Clonmel on Saturday night with the announcement that Valvoline will underpin the series for the next three seasons.

Past and present Billy Coleman award winners dominate the 100-strong entry list for today’s Carlow Rallysprint at Mondello Park.

Cork-born racing driver Matt Griffin has signed for the Silverstone-based Ram Racing and will contest the European Le Mans Series (ELMS).

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.

Three years ago Cork driver Keith Cronin set a target to win the British Rally Championship.

THE Valvoline National Forest Rally Championship heralds the beginning of the Irish rally season tomorrow with the Abbey Hotel Donegal Forest Rally making its debut in the series.

WEXFORD’s David James (Mitsubishi) took a comfortable victory in the Carlow Rallysprint at Mondello Park that attracted an entry of 127 drivers.

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).

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

THE ambition to succeed in the new World Rally Championship Academy series has prompted young Irish rally star, Craig Breen, to alter his plans for the forthcoming season.

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.

DOUBLE British Rally Champion Keith Cronin has shelved his progress to the next level of the sport due to a lack of opportunities.

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

THIS year’s Circuit of Ireland Rally will feature a demanding 18-mile night-time stage as the centrepiece to what is the second oldest rally in the world.

REGIONAL Championships are important to former triple national champion, Niall Maguire, who is the top seed for Sunday’s Ennis-based Auburn Lodge Clare Rally, the fifth round of the Top Part West Coast Championship.