July’s Moonraker Forestry could kick off 11 Irish rallies in 2021

Motorsport Ireland has released its calendar of events for the remainder of 2021. Three rallysprints will take place in June and July before the first of 11 non-gated rallies is proposed to run.

Munster Car Club’s Moonraker Forestry Rally is scheduled for 31 July but the status of non-gated events are still to be approved. Non-gated events were included in Motorsport Ireland’s calendar for reference only.

Ravens Rock Rally, which had hoped to run last autumn before increasing Covid-19 cases forced its cancellation, is the first closed-road rally on the list of events. It is planned to take place on 8 August.

Munster’s Cork 20 is the only international rally on the provisional calendar, it has a 19 September date.

Three clubs plan to run mini stages rallies in October and November before Killarney closes out the year with its Historic Rally on 27 November.

The full list of non-gated rallies can be seen below.:

31 Jul – Moonraker Forestry Rally (Munster CC)
8 Aug – Ravens Rock Rally (Carrick-on-Suir)
22 Aug – Cork Forestry Rally
5 Sep – Wexford Stages Rally
19 Sep – Cork 20 International Rally (Munster)
9 Oct – Donegal Harvest Rally
24 Oct – Fastnet Rally (Skibbereen)
7 Nov – Mayo Mini Stages Rally
7 Nov (Alternative 24 Oct date) – Kerry Mini Stages Rally
14 Nov – Galway Mini Stages Rally
27 Nov – Killarney Historic Rally

“It is hard to believe the last permitted Motorsport Ireland event took place in mid September,” said MI President John Naylor. “It is heartening to see a return on the horizon and to have a calendar agreed is the first step in that process.

“We are acutely aware that all events still need to happen within public health guidelines and we’ll continue to work with all organising clubs to offer every support possible.”

Motorsport Ireland’s press release also noted that once non-gated events are given the green light, meetings will take place between the organising clubs and the relevant sporting commissions to confirm their place on the calendar.

Photo by Alan Noonan