Killarney and District Motor Club, organisers of the upcoming 2022 International Rally of the Lakes have announced details of the event which has attracted a large entry to date.
The 41st edition of the event is a counting round of:
‘Acesigns’ Irish Tarmac Rally Championship
IPS Packaging Southern 4 Championship
Moriarty’s Centra Kingdom of Kerry Championship
The 2022 edition of the International Rally of the Lakes has three title sponsors. Ireland’s Pest Experts Rentokil Initial, headed by local man Michael O Mahony, Aherns.ie Motor Group which is home to BMW, Mazda, Seat and Opel in Kerry and our longstanding loyal supporters the Gleneagle Hotel.
2022 Clerk of the Course is Darren McCormick, who is the first-ever second-generation COC of the rally, has announced a compact, centralised route with stages in close proximity to Killarney town. The two-day International event is sure to attract a large number of spectators to the area in what is set to be the start of the tourism season in Killarney.
The rally will roll into the town centre on Friday evening, with a ceremonial start to take place on Main Street from 7 pm. This family-friendly event is a great chance to see the cars and drivers up close in a safe controlled environment.
The stages commence late on Saturday morning with a run over classic East Kerry stages Kilsarcon, Banard and Gortnagane before crews return to service in Liebherr container cranes to ensure the cars are ready to tackle the same loop stages later Saturday afternoon.
It’s an early start on Sunday Morning as crews head to the iconic Molls Gap, Ireland’s most famous rally stage before tackling the challenging Ballaghbeama test. After a trip into service, the competitors will test themselves once again on these two stages.
The rally concludes with the fast-flowing Shanera and Caragh Lake stages, both running twice to determine who becomes the 2022 International Rally of the Lakes winner.
A ceremonial finish ramp at 6 pm at Rally HQ will give the winning competitors a chance to celebrate victory with the spectators before the trophies will be presented at the prizegiving ceremony Sunday night.
To date, 200 entries have been received with a top-class field of crews set to tackle the Rally of the Lakes. Entries will remain open until the 18th of April. There is an era of R5 cars entered with each vying for the overall honours. Championship leader Josh Moffett, along with the 2019 podium positioned Alastair Fisher and Callum Devine all set to do battle, among others, at the front.
2019 National winner Chris Armstrong comes to Killarney to defend his 2019 victory. 2022 Galway International winner Gary Kiernan and the Milkman Declan Gallagher will also be looking for class 14 honours but will be strongly contested by locals Rob Duggan, Colin O’Donoghue and his father Kevin, Charlie Hickey, Denis Hickey, Eoin Duffin, Conor Murphy, Mike Quinn, Vincent O’Shea, Tommy Randles, Tadhg O’Sullivan.
Local man Alan Ring is attempting to defend his 2019 Historic class win in his Subaru Legacy but is sure to meet some strong opposition on the 12 stages. Todd Falvey, Fergus O’Meara, Robert Falvey, Pat Looney just to name a few men with local knowledge who are sure to flirt with the rally win all weekend.
Current championship leader and KDMC Clubman Jason Farrell will be hoping to stay at the top of the junior standings coming over Sunday’s finish ramp but is sure to have some stiff competition from other crews. John Nagle, Damien Nagle, John Fleming, Gary Healy, Chris Browne and Jamie O’Rourke head up a very strong local entry list.
The International Rally of the Lakes takes place on April 29th, 30th and May 1st
Photos of the launch event will be published on this website later today or early tomorrow.
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Kerry Motorsport News 