Darragh O’Riordan chases Cork five in a row

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

The rally will be the final event within the Clonakilty Blackpudding Irish Tarmac Championship where World Rally Cars will be allowed score championship points for the overall award, following the decision by the Tarmac Rally Organisers Association (TROA) to effectively ban WRCs and select the R5 range of cars as the preferred option for 2016.

For now, the likes of top seed Darragh O’Riordan (Ford Fiesta WRC) and newly-crowned champion Donagh Kelly (Ford Focus WRC) will just concentrate on dominating the 14 stages that are based close to Rathcormack tomorrow and Killavullen on Sunday. The ceremonial start is at 8pm tonight in Fermoy town centre.