DUNMANWAY’S Jason McSweeney (Ford Escort Cosworth) continues his quest to win the Irish Tarmac Historic Rally Championship at the Ulster Rally this Friday and Saturday with six stages each day.

Based in Ballymena, Friday's action is a double run over Knockboy, Glendun and the classic Torr Head, while Saturday's three stages loop (repeated twice) is at Tardree, Cairncastle and Slemish.

While McSweeney and his Blackpool co-driver Liam Brennan were and apparently unknowingly excluded from the results of the Donegal International Rally, the championship organisers – the Tarmac Rally Organisers Association (TROA) – conducted a review of the championship implications relating to the event that was marred by a fatal accident.

The TROA statement said: ‘After careful consideration, and in accordance with Article 6.11 of the 2026 NAPA Auto Parts Irish Tarmac Historic Rally Championship Regulations, the directors (of TROA) confirm that no Irish Tarmac Historic Rally Championship points will be allocated for the 2026 Donegal International Rally.’

The regulations stated that championship points will only be eligible to be awarded where half of the total stage mileage of the event has been completed.

Accordingly, the Donegal International Rally will not count towards the allocation of championship points for either drivers or co-drivers in the 2026 Historic Championship standings.

Currently, McSweeney (62pts) has an 11-point advantage over Ulster driver Ronan Campbell, with Welsh driver Adrian Evans a point further behind in third. Reigning champion, Donegal’s John O'Donnell, is 19 points adrift of McSweeney.

The Ulster event, which celebrates its 50th anniversary, is also a round of the European Historic Rally Championship with McSweeney entered in that category that will run as a separate category as opposed to Campbell, who is seeded in the main field of the Ulster Rally.

It appears that Evans and O'Donnell are not competing at all – that leaves McSweeney with a great opportunity to embellish his standing ahead of the final round, the MRF Tyres Cork '20' Rally in September.

There are just seven entries in the EHRC section that is headed by Donegal's Eamonn Kelly (BMW M3), who replaces his father Donagh, who is out with a shoulder injury. Welsh ace Tomas Davies, also in a BMW M3, and Killarney's Alan Ring (Subaru 555), with his Newcestown co-driver Adrian Deasy, completing the top three. Ulster’s Will Graham (BMW M3) lines up ahead McSweeney/Brennan with Waterford's Ray Breen (Subaru Legacy), who is fifth in the ITHRC series, and Ulster driver Ernie Graham (BMW M3) completing the EHRC entry.

In the Tarmac Championship series, Monaghan’s Josh Moffett (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) is the top seed and will be followed by his title rival Kilkenny's Eddie Doherty (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) and Circuit of Ireland Rally winner Donegal's David Kelly (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2). Moffett is currently eight points ahead and the title is likely to go to the wire on the Cork ‘20’ that has a 1.5 points scoring co-efficient.

Meanwhile, Macroom's Barry O’Brien (Honda Civic) and his Rossmore co-driver Declan Buttimer are also making the 1000km round trip as they continue their participation in the Modified category of the ITRC. Currently six points off top spot, a strong haul of points could potentially move O'Brien (and Buttimer) into the lead of Class M1 ahead of the final round where O'Brien will be on home territory on the stages around Macroom.

In the Junior ITRC, Ardfield co-driver Gary Lombard and his Ladysbridge driver Darragh Walsh are four points ahead of Donegal's Aaron and Caolan Reid, both in Honda Civics. They are the top two seeds in the Ulster Rally and neither can afford any slip up at this juncture.

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The Jim Walsh Cork Forest Rally, the third round of the Trailer Parts & Spares National Forest, takes place on Sunday. It will be based at the Mallow Autograss complex in Quitrent Mountain, Ballygurteen.

Omagh's Mark Donnelly (VW Polo GTi R5) is just a point ahead of Monaghan's Josh Moffett (Hyundai i20 R5), who shares second place with Derry's Jordan Hone (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2).

Ballyvourney's Gerard Lucey (Ford Fiesta R5) is the top local driver as he returns for his first outing in the series since the Donegal Forest Rally last November. ‘We’ve had the car rebuilt – the engine and the turbo. We gave it a run on the Imokilly Rallysprint and we were happy. As for Sunday, I'm looking forward to it, but it's a strong entry. I will be a bit rusty, so we will take it stage by stage and try to get to the finish,’ Lucey commented.

Meanwhile, reigning champion Jason Mitchell (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) is amongst the entries that also includes fellow Ulster drivers Gareth Mimnagh and Vivian Hamill. Cashel's Pat O'Connell (Fiord Fiesta R5) is also competing as is Midleton's Martin O'Brien (Ford Fiesta Rally2) and Douglas driver Mark Murphy (Subaru). The rally consists of eight stages (4x2).

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Ballylickey’s Daniel Cronin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) and his Ladysbridge co-driver Padraig O'Donovan finished tenth overall in Sunday's Monaghan Rally, the fifth round of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship.

The nine-stage event was won by Monaghan's Josh Moffett (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2), who finished 19.7 seconds ahead of the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 driven by his older brother Sam. Donegal's Kevin Eves (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) was 9.6 seconds further behind in third.

Cronin wasn't happy with his performance on the opening stage where he reckoned his car was nervous over the bumps. On the second loop of stages he admitted he struggled on the fast sections as his Toyota was moving about, which did little to help his confidence. He opted for a harder tyre for the final three stages that he stated was more of a test than anything else.

Josh Moffett won the Power Stage to secure an extra championship point as he extended his lead over Quinn to 12 points with Eves some 27 points further behind in third.

The next round of the series is the Galway Summer Rally on Sunday week (August 23rd) that will be based in Ballinasloe.

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An inquest into the death of Dunmanway's Eoin McCarthy (22) during the Castleisland-based Killarney Forest Rally on February 20th, 2022 will begin in Cork on Monday. The Southern Star understands that four days have been set aside for the inquest that hopefully will provide the McCarthy family with answers to the questions they have as to what happened on that fateful day.