THE entry list for this weekend's O'Connell Group Cork '20' Rally, the final round of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, was released on Monday.

Four local drivers are amongst the top ten. Ballylickey's Daniel Cronin (Citroen C3 Rally2) is seeded at number four. Clonakilty's David Guest (Ford Fiesta Rally2) will start from the number seven berth, ahead of Ovens driver Owen Murphy and Clonakilty's Cal McCarthy in a pair of Citroen C3 Rally2 cars, seeded at eight and nine respectively.

Donegal's Declan Boyle (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) is the top seed with Derry's Desi Henry (Ford Fiesta Rally2) and Donegal's Michael Boyle (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) completing the top three.

While next week's Southern Star will feature a preview of the two-day 15-stage event, other local entries to watch out for are Clonakilty's Eamonn McCarthy and Macroom's Barry O'Brien (both in Honda Civics), Drimoleague's Gary Lordan (Honda Civic), The Pike's Peter Keohane (Peugeot 106 GTi), Lissarda's Philip Cross (Ford Escort) and Lyre's Tim O'Donovan (Toyotas Corolla).

Ardfield co-driver Anthony O'Sullivan and his Welsh driver Meirion Evans (Ford Escort) are the second seeds in the Historic section. Another Ardfield co-driver, Gary Lombard, will call the notes for Castlemartyr's Darragh Walsh (Honda Civic), they are the top junior crew. The first stage will start at 10.05am on Saturday (October 4th) and the first stage on Sunday gets underway at 10.22am The finish at the Cork Marts Complex is scheduled for 3.08pm.

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Last week, entries for the forthcoming Westlodge Hotel Fastnet Rally had hit just over the 90 mark. The overall winner of the series has already been decided with winners of the penultimate round in Ennis, Kilkenny's Eddie Doherty and his Limerick co-driver Tom Murphy (Skoda Fabia R5), clinching the Triton Showers National Rally Championship.

One of the overall titles that will be decided on the Bantry event is the two-wheel drive award within the overall championship. Cavan's Chris Armstrong (Ford Escort) has a seven-point advantage over Tyrone's Barry Morris (Darian T90 GTR), who is co-driven by Barryroe's Dylan Doonan. The series is decided on the best seven scores from the eight rounds, and while Armstrong is favourite, Morris/Doonan still have a chance.

It is expected that Ballylickey's Daniel Cronin (Citroen C3 Rally2), who won the event in 2016, along with Clonakilty's Cal McCarthy (Citroen C3 Rally2) and David Guest (Ford Fiesta Rally2) will be amongst the top ten.

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The recent Skibbereen and District Car Club's Loose Surface Autocross at Derryleigh (between Leap and Skibbereen) was won by North Kerry driver Mike O’Connor. At the wheel of his Yacar MT09, the Moyvane driver set the fastest time on the first of his three timed runs to finish 0.18 seconds ahead of Laois driver James O'Keeffe (Semog Bravo), with Ruan's Declan O'Regan (Semog Trophy) over three seconds further behind in third. From a local perspective, Cousane Gap resident Matt Shinnors (Subaru Impreza) set the fastest time of the four-wheel drive cars, his second run time of 2m 27.09s proved decisive and also netted him sixth overall.

The top driver in the two-wheel drive category was Union Hall's Anthony Dineen (Opel Corsa), who posted a time of 2m 31.26. The Skibbereen and District Car Club award was won by Clonakilty's Henry Jennings (Subaru Impreza) with a time of 2m. 41.09s. The sole entry in Class 4, Ballinacarriga's Ger O'Connell (Toyota Celica) posted a time of 2m. 50.36s to finish 16th overall. Other award winners included Ballinacarriga's Conor O’Connell (Honda Civic), who was second in Class 1. Interest from competitors, particularly in the West Cork region has declined over recent times. In the past, locals were amongst the leading contenders, however, an entry of just 21 competitors is concerning.

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Inchigeelagh co-driver Eamonn Creedon and his Monaghan driver Derek Mackarel (Ford Fiesta R5) relinquished their Sligo Pallets Irish Forest Rally Championship crown after Tyrone's Jason Mitchell (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) and his Donegal co-driver Paddy McCrudden secured the 2025 title on the Omagh-based Bushwhacker Rally.

Most of the crews that were not registered for the Irish series, used a 34mm restrictor for more power, however, Mitchell, Mackarel and Jason Dickson (Ford Fiesta Rally2), who were all in with a chance of winning the series, had to comply with the championship regulations and stick with the 32mm restrictor.

Mitchell knew if he took maximum points he would seal the series; that is what he did, finishing eighth overall, with Mackarel/Creedon tenth and Dickson 12th.

The series concludes with the Donegal Forest Rally (November 8th) when Mackarel/Creedon can still finish second overall.

Omagh's Patrick O'Brien (Skoda Fabia R5) finished one minute and 57.6s ahead of the Skoda Fabia RS Rally 2 of fellow Ulster driver Conor McCourt to complete his fifth successive win.