Killarney and District Motor Club fined €5,000

The Killarney and District Motor Club has been issued with a €5,000 fine and three of its officials have each received 15-month bans following an investigation into matters arising from last year’s Rentokil Initial Killarney Historic Rally.

Last week, Motorsport Ireland’s top brass, the Motor Sport Council, considered the report of the joint Rally Commission and the Safety Commission investigation into the running of the event on 30th November last.

The report found that there was a breach of the rules and viewed as detrimental to the sport and contrary to the GCR (General Competition Rules). 

Although the club were subsequently informed by a letter along with individual letters to the three officials, the information was already in the public domain before the Motor Sport Council meeting. 

That caused concern within MI and following the MSC meeting, members of the Rallies Commission received an email (on instructions from the MI president) from its chairperson enquiring if any member had discussed the investigation and/or the proposed sanctions with any person outside the Rallies Commission.

The purpose of the original investigation was to determine why the emergency services were not deployed to the scene of an accident on the second run over Moll’s Gap. The investigation uncovered other aspects that (according to the investigators) didn’t conform to the regulations. 

A spokesperson for the Killarney and District Motor Club told the Irish Examiner that they have lodged an appeal but will not be paying the fine. One of the three suspended officials has already informed MI that he will not be appealing his suspension. In the letter to the club, no mention was made of the officials' suspension. 

At a meeting last night, the KDMC were set to abandon plans to host the Historic Rally (November 28), a spokesperson claimed, “It would be irresponsible and would damage the image of the sport in the current circumstances.” 

 Meanwhile, Irish drivers Craig Breen and Callum Devine are in action in tomorrow’s Rally Fafe Montelago in northern Portugal, round three of the European Rally Championship (ERC). 

Breen (Hyundai i20 R5) occupies the number three berth as he continues development work with the MRF tyre, yesterday, Hyundai Motorsport revealed he will drive for the team in Rally Ypres, the next round of the WRC. For Devine it’s an important event after non-finishes in the opening rounds. 

There are nine stages tomorrow and Sunday. Driving their AF Corse run Ferrari 488 GT3, Cork’s Matt Griffin and his British team mate Duncan Cameron compete in the latest double header of the British GT3 Championship at Snetterton on Sunday.