Motorsport: Traditional Galway season opener awash with expectation and promise

Has there ever been a build-up like it to the Corrib Oil Galway International Rally?

GALWAY QUARTET: Derry's Callum Devine (left) and Kilkenny's Eddie Doherty (second left) will have new Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 cars in this weekend's Corrib Oil Galway International Rally and Donegal's Eamonn Kelly (second right) and Monaghan's Josh Moffett (right) will debut a pair of Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 cars on the event. the opening round of the NAPA Auto Parts Irish Tarmac Rally Championship. Picture: Martin Walsh.

Has there ever been a build-up like it? This weekend's Corrib Oil Galway International Rally provides the first of seven episodes in this year's NAPA Auto Parts Irish Tarmac Rally Championship. A year ago, Storm Éowyn brought a shuddering halt to proceedings that eventually led to the cancellation of the event. Now, it's only the aftermath of a storm within the corridors of power of Motorsport Ireland - that has resulted in an appeal to the recent outcome of a Court of Inquiry - that is blowing in the wind.

For now, that can be set aside to allow the real business of the sport get underway in the West of Ireland where the traditional season opener is awash with expectation and promise. How the demographic has changed since Keith Cronin (Fiord Fiesta Rally2) won the last Galway International Rally two years ago, when the Citroen was the dominant car with four in the top ten.