Bravery to be rewarded on one-day Circuit of Ireland

The Irish Tarmac Rally Championship hits the hills of County Tyrone for its third round – the Circuit of Ireland Rally.

Eight stages over a single day of action mean the Circuit of Ireland will be Irish Tarmac’s shortest event of 2023. The shorter-than-usual itinerary in turn offers the prospect of a proper maximum attack effort from its 120 entrants.

Crews cannot afford to get left behind on any of the challenging tests nor will they have a chance to bed themselves in on Saturday morning.

Seeded first, Josh Moffett and Andy Hayes’ season has taken off after an assured West Cork Rally win last month. Moffett is fresh from a National Rally victory on last weekend’s Circuit of Kerry. The reigning champions have found their mojo – we only need to look to 2022’s championship double to see how effective that can be.

A brace of Volkswagen Polo R5s will follow Moffett through the Circuit’s opening test. Meirion Evans was fastest out of the blocks in West Cork while Callum Devine finished the Circuit of Kerry looking sharp. Can either beat Moffett over a single day in Tyrone?

Jonny Greer, Desi Henry, and Cathan McCourt have battled over stages with similar character throughout Northern Ireland in the past 12 months. The three Citroen C3 pilots are Circuit of Ireland dark horses – I wouldn’t put a victory past any of them.

Sam Moffett and Robert Barrable are equally capable having already shown glimpses of their speed in Galway and West Cork.

The modified and historic battles are equally as exciting with a healthy mix of local challengers and championship travellers.

The Circuit of Ireland is based in Cookstown with four stages completed two times each. Competing cars will return to service at two-stage intervals.

Here is what they can expect from the challenging tests – thanks to Onthepacenote for the expert stage previews.

Wolf’s Hill (14.5 km), SS1/5

The Circuit of Ireland gets up and running with a really tricky opener. There are a lot of stones lying on the inside of corners at the start of Wolf’s Hill. It will be easy to pick up a puncture here, a disaster so early on in the rally.

It passes by two quarries with a chicane outside the first one. There will be a lot of dust so even if it is dry, the surface will be quite slippery.

There is a lot of work through the stage, it is quite different, so it will be interesting to see who can master it to get an early jump.

Mucker (14.5 km), SS2/6

Like the opening test, this is another demanding stage. There are lots of places with jumps and bumps. The last two kilometres include a really fast, bumpy straight. Even in a Rally2 car, crews will notice how severe the bumps are.

The Hollow (13.0 km), SS3/7

The road characteristics are completely different for The Hollow. It is much smoother, more like an Ulster Rally style of stage.

It is nice and flowing with parts of it used in the Tyrone Stages last year.

Shanmaghry (14.5 km), SS4/8

This is an epic Irish rally stage and a brilliant way to decide the 2023 Circuit of Ireland Rally.

It is corner after corner, starting off tight and twisty before getting much faster. There is a section at the end which contains a multitude of square right and square left corners.

The bogey times won’t be threatened here and if somebody is on the hunt for a position at the end of the rally, this is the stage to do it.

Photos by D Harrigan Images