Bumper entry gear up for Killarney

Over 100 crews will tackle tomorrow’s Gleneagle Hotel Killarney Historic Rally that doubles as the opening round of the 2013 Irish Tarmac Rally Championship and final round of this season’s Southern 4 Historic Rally Championship.

The entry spans across five categories — Historic, Classic, Post Historic, Modified and Juniors. Lisburn’s Wesley Patterson, in his immaculate Mk. 2 Ford Escort, a car built in accordance with the FIA Class K regulations, will be co-driven by Corkman Alan Whyte.

On their last outing together they finished sixth on the Fastnet Rally and a few weeks earlier, they topped the Historic category in the Cork 20 International Rally. Top seed Patterson also seems likely to continue to compete in the Historic section of the 2013 Tarmac series.

Second seed Tomás Davies (Ford Escort) is the leading Classic competitor with Welsh ace Mel Evans (Escort), Drew Wylie (Ford Escort) and Todd Falvey (Porsche 911) his main opponents.

Cork’s Denis Moynihan, in his Mk. 1 Ford Escort, heads the Post-Historic category that includes Steve Smith, Mark Falvey and Philip Wylie’s Escorts. Carrigaline’s Frank O’Mahony (Mini Cooper) is a late entry.

In the popular Modified category that dominates the entry list, Frank Kelly (Escort) is the driver to beat. The drivers hoping to beat him in Killarney include fellow Escort aces, Fergus O’Meara (Killarney), Martin McGee (Donegal), Pat Donegan (Meath), Colm Murphy (Limerick) and Kerry pair, Kevin O’Donoghue and Ed Murphy. Wexford’s Leon Galvin (Ford Escort) is the top Junior.

Action over the eight-stage event that has Sapphire Signs as its associate sponsor, begins with Moll’s Gap and will be followed by Beallaghbeama and Caragh Lake. The loop is repeated prior to a double run over the stage at Coolick that finishes just outside Kilcummin village. The eighth and final stage is in darkness.

Elsewhere, Sam and Josh Moffett from Monaghan, both in their Group N Mitsubishis, will contest tomorrow’s Grizedale Rally in Cumbria.

Meanwhile, Charleville karter, Shane Daly competes in the World Rotax Max finals at Portimao, Portugal. One of 72 competitors in this competitive class, Daly is the current Irish champion at this level. The 19-year-old CIT student has a tough task ahead of him, however. Earlier this week, 44 karters were lapping the circuit within a second of each other. Other Irish karters competing are Dubliner Martin Pierce (Masters Class) and Northern Ireland pair, Charlie Eastwood (Rotax Max) and Garry Donnelly (Junior Rotax Max).

Newly crowned S2000 World rally champion, Craig Breen has been voted World Rally Driver of the Year by the WRC. On the poll, carried out on WRC.com, the 22-year-old Waterford driver gained 39% of the vote — 1% more than Norwegian Mads Ostberg. Nine-time World champion, Sebastien Loeb was third.