The Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally is little over a week away beginning on Friday 14th March and a strong list of drivers will be present in the seaside town to do battle over three days. Eighteen special stages form the itinerary across St. Patrick’s weekend with all of the major Rally 2 marques represented in the top ten.
Top seeds Keith Cronin & Mikie Galvin will be back to defend their crown following on their success in 2024. Keith will bid to become the first Cork driver to win back to back West Cork Rallies and will drive a Citroen C3 Rally2. Second seeds Matt Edwards & David Moynihan are likely to provide a very stern test in their Hyundai i20N Rally2. This will be Matt's third attempt at West Cork and will be looking to improve on last years runner up position. Third away will be two-time winners Josh Moffett & Andy Hayes who are back out in the Citroen C3 Rally2
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Fourth seeds Jon Armstrong & Shane Byrne will be dark horses for the event, Jon not having competed in Clonakilty before, but with WRC Junior and EWRC experience will be one to watch. Co-Driver Shane Byrne previously sat with Callum Devine here in 2022 and were close to victory till mechanical issues forced them out. The Fermanagh / Donegal duo will campaign an M-Sport prepared Ford Fiesta Rally 2. Eddie Doherty & Tom Murphy are Skoda Fabia R5 mounted at five, having shown an impressive turn of speed in the last twelve months. At six are Cathan McCourt & Barry McNulty in another Hyundai i20N Rally2 with McCourt looking for better luck than his previous two visits here. Declan Boyle & Patrick Walsh are at seven in a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, with the change of car having made a huge difference to the Donegal drivers’ confidence in the past few months.
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Jonny Greer & Niall Burns bring a Toyota Yaris Rally2 to West Cork for the first time and have been consistently quick on the stages here over the past couple of years. It will be interesting to see if the change from Citroen to Toyota will see him challenge for the podium. Daniel Cronin and Donnchadh Burke are at nine in a Citroen C3 Rally2 while Michael Boyle & Dermot McCafferty round off the top ten places in a VW Polo Gti R5. Outside the top ten, David Kelly, Kevin Eves James Ford and Neil Roskell will be pushing hard for the top ten along with Cork drivers Owen Murphy, Jason McSweeney, Cal McCarthy & David Guest. Top modified men include Frank Kelly, Damian Toner, John Bonner, Adrian Hetherington and Padraig Egan. The competitive Rally 4 class will include Cian Caldwell, Kyle McBride, Keelan Grogan and Joseph Kelly.
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The main field will attempt four stages on the Friday, the last two in darkness, around Ballinascarthy and Rossmore. The first stage is due to begin at 4.20pm. Similar to last year, at the end of the first day, there will be a fan zone in Clonakilty town. Event coverage for the weekend will be provided by Killian Duffy & Andy Walsh from onthepacenote.net.
Saturday will see eight stages, taking in Ring, Kilbrittain, Dunworley & Clogagh twice. The action begins at 9.07am and Historic Rally competitors will run within the main field from Saturday morning. Sundays six stages begins at 10.56am with Ardfield, Glandore and Sam’s Cross being run twice, and the Junior competitors will take part in all of these stages. The centralized service area for the weekend is the West Cork Business and Technology Park on the N71 just outside Clonakilty. Scrutiny will take place at Clonakilty Car Centre and Parc Ferme is at Clonakilty Showgrounds right next to the event headquarters and title sponsors the Clonakilty Park Hotel.