Ireland’s more prestigious rally, the European championship Circuit of Ireland, is not to be held in 2017, as announced by the Event Director, Bobby Willis.
Craig Breen won this year's Circuit of Ireland Rally in a Citroen.The decision is due to funding uncertainty. Willis has managed the Circuit since 2009.
“We have been working hard with all our funders to plan ahead for 2017, but regrettably the financial resources required to deliver the event are still not in place,” Willis said.
“To run the rally next year in the current format without the right resources and necessary planning period would be to do the rally a gross disservice.
“I believe we cannot risk proceeding with the 2017 event at this point without financial certainty.”
While other options for a small, local rally may be considered for next year, Willis’ plan is to work to secure the necessary resources and plan for the Circuit of Ireland Rally to return in 2018 with an even better event.
Unlike in earlier years, the Circuit, which was first held in 1931 and is one of the sport’s longest running events, has recently only been run in North Ireland.
In the euphoria of the successful event earlier this year, there were suggestions the event could revert to its original format as a true “Circuit”. It was even presented as a suitable alternative British round of the FIA’s World Championship as a rival to Wales Rally GB.
There were two occasions the independent Rally Ireland was run as a WRC event, in the format of a cross-border event.
The sad news of the postponement of the 2017 event comes shortly after the untimely passing of Malcolm Neill, who successfully ran the Circuit in the difficult days of the troubles in the early ‘seventies.
- Martin Holmes
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