CITROËN RACING TROPHY IRELAND PREPARES FOR CIRCUIT OF IRELAND EASTER SPECTACULAR

This weekend round two of the 2010 Citroën Racing Trophy Ireland kicks off on the prestigious Circuit of Ireland International Rally, Ireland’s best known rally. It is also round two of the Citroën Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, with Citroën lending its support to Ireland’s premier rally series. No less than eleven Citroën Racing Trophy competitors will set off from the Dundalk start on Saturday for two days of intense competition, which includes a challenging eighteen mile night stage, which actually uses part of a main road, one of the elements of closed road rallying in Ireland.

First of the 195 horse power Citroën C2 R2 Max’s is reigning Citroën Racing Trophy (CRT) UK winner Martin McCormack starting at number 19. Martin is fresh from an impressive run in France on the Le Touquet event, a round of the French Trophy, where he finished a fine second in the wet conditions. “We are contesting the whole French series this year, as we are looking to improve our skills on tarmac, and also the CRT Ireland. Things went well on the first day in Galway, and we had a good lead, but the punctures on day two were just one of those things. The Circuit now should be a good event, and we certainly aim to do our best.”

Martin had led the opening Irish C2 round in Galway but a spate of punctures dropped him to second behind eventual winner, C2 newcomer Robert Barrable.

The Dublin driver had an impressive first outing in Galway, and followed it up with a second place on the opening CRT UK round in Wales last weekend. He starts at number 20. At 21 is 2009 CRT Ireland winner Adrian McElhinney. The Donegal town driver is hoping to improve on his Galway result, but he will have added pressure from another C2 newcomer Shane Buckley. Having scored a fine third place with his C2 R2 in Galway, Shane has upgraded his machine to Max specification and debuted the car last weekend on the Midland Stages Rally. At one point Shane lay sixth overall, his eventual finishing position a fine eighth, with a clear class win. Shane has made the switch from the Fiesta ST series to the Citroën’s in 2010.

One to really watch out for at number 23 is 18 year old Mark Donnelly, fresh from victory last weekend on the opening CRT UK round in Wales. “Last weekend went very well for us, and I’m enjoying driving the C2 R2 Max. The power and braking is superb and I’m really looking forward to the Circuit of Ireland this weekend. We had a good test on the Mayo Stages a couple of weeks ago, and I think our car set up for the tarmac roads feels quite good now. It will be tough though with the night stages, and also there is a lot of competition.” Indeed Mark has had a couple of impressive results at home with an eighth overall, first in class on the Carrick on Suir Forestry event, and nineteenth overall and first in class in Mayo.

At 24 is rapid English driver Andrew Hockridge who really excels on Irish tarmac roads. Indeed Andrew recorded fastest C2 time on the opening stage in Galway before a minor technical glitch forced his retirement.

The second group of Citroën C2 R2 Max’s start at number 37, with Donegal’s Joe McGonigle leading the pack, Joe fresh from a fourth place finish on the opening CRT UK round in Wales. Behind Joe, young Omagh charger Declan Leonard is on his second C2 outing, and he displayed some promising times in Galway, whilst new to the CRT Ireland series for this event is the Limerick crew Kieran Daly and Frank Curtin. They have frantically rebuilt a damaged C2 R2 Max they purchased only a few weeks ago in time for the Circuit of Ireland, and in time to take advantage of the massive prize fund of 19,600€ on each event. Final C2 R2 Max runner on the entry list is David Carney and Ray Fitzpatrick, David rapidly learning about rallying in his Citroën C2.

At number 25, former Irish Tarmac 1600 class Champion, Lisburn’s Andrew Bushe will be running his exciting Citroën C2 Super 1600, which qualifies for a separate CRT prize fund. The team has totally rebuilt the suspension on the wide track machine after problems getting grip in Galway.

The UTV Drive Circuit of Ireland Rally gets underway on Saturday morning with the Dundalk Rally Show at 11am, before the ceremonial start at 12.30.