ONE of the favourite events around the festive season is the Cork Motor Club's Boggeragh Rallysprint in Nad.
Although it was only first held in 2021 when it was won by Clonakilty's David Guest (Ford Fiesta R5) following a dramatic final stage battle with Ballyvourney's Gerard Lucey (Mitsubishi Lancer E8), who took a seven seconds lead into the final stage only for his car to lose power for a few seconds, the event has become very popular.
Unfortunately, neither are competing in next Monday's event as their respective Ford Fiesta Rally2 and Ford Fiesta R5 are not ready.
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Since the inaugural event, other winners were the late Craig Breen (Ford Focus WRC) in 2022; Waterford's Andrew Purcell (VW Polo GTi R5) in 2023 while last year, Cashel's Pat O'Connell (Ford Fiesta R5) came out on top.
Indeed, O'Connell will headline Monday's encounter that has attracted over eighty entries.
No doubt the presence of former Irish Tarmac and National rally champions, brothers Josh and Sam Moffett, will ramp up the competition in the event that is backed by O'Leary Building and ICF.
The Monaghan pair plan to double drive the Hyundai i20 R5 usually driven by Josh while Sam will also compete in a Metro engined Ford Escort. The sharp end of the entry also features the Ford Fiesta R5's of Carrick on Suir's James Dunphy; Limerick's Gary Reidy and Oldcastle's Paul McCann.
Navan's Alan Shinnors (Mitsubishi Lancer E9) will have Ovens co-driver Brian Duggan on the pacenotes. The Dunmanway husband and wife duo of Matt and Catherine Shinnors (Mitsubishi lancer E6) are the top local crew and likely to be seeded in the starting top ten – they will be hoping to erase the disappointment of last season when they were in the top five after the opening run only for mechanical woes to put them out of contention.
In the two-wheel drive category, Ballylickey's Robert and Colin Cronin will double drive the Tom Gahan Motorsport run Opel Corsa Rally4.
Other local entries are Macroom's Barry O'Brien (Honda Civic) and his father Finbarr O'Brien, also in a Honda Civic and co-driven by Rossmore's Declan Buttimer, both competing in Class 2B. In the J1000 category, The Pike's Peter Keohane will co-drive for Youghal's Sean Ryan (Peugeot 207). The event will have a minimum of three timed runs over the 5.6km route that will run in the opposite direction to previous years. The first timed run is at 10am.
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Next season's NAPA Autoparts Irish Tarmac Rally Championship will feature two important changes that are likely to bring the event to a final round decider on the Cork '20' Rally at the end of September.
The Tarmac Rally Organisers Association (TROA) have revealed that next year's series will be based on the best performances from six of the seven rounds that include the West Cork Rally and the aforementioned Cork '20' Rally.
The TROA also announced that the final round in Cork will have a points co-efficient of 1.5. Both changes will be adopted across the International, Modified and Junior categories. Meanwhile, the Historic series, which began with the recent Killarney Historic Rally, will be based on the best six results from its eight rounds.
The 2026 NAPA Auto Parts Irish Tarmac Rally Championship will consist of the following events: 1. Corrib Oil Galway International Rally (January 31/February 1); 2. Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally (March 13/15); 3. Circuit of Ireland Rally (April 3/4): 4. Assess Ireland Rally of the Lakes (May 2/3); 5. Donegal International Rally (June 19/21); 6. Modern Tyres Ulster International Rally (August 7/8); 7. Cork '20' Rally (September 26/27).
