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SHELL
DONEGAL RALLY – JUNIORS DAY OUT!
The 2005 SHELL Donegal Rally of Ireland will
have a ‘new string’ this year with the inclusion of a
Junior Rally within the main rally.
Announcing the special deal for the junior
drivers, Declan McCay, Clerk of the Course for the event, said this
was an opportunity for the young talent in Ireland to get a chance
to show their skills to potential sponsors, and the opportunity to
compare times with regular competitors to the Pirelli Irish tarmac
rallying scene and, for observers who want to see the future stars
in action.
There will be 20 places allocated for ‘Junior’
crews, all of whom will tackle a small group of challenging special
stages of the SHELL backed event, in June later this year.
This type of event was trialed in 2005, and has been adopted in this
form MotorSport Ireland as an experiment to find out how it fits into
the International Tarmac Rally series in Ireland for 2005. He believes
it is a positive step towards some way of giving young talent a chance
at this level of event, making a contribution to sporting development
in motorsport on this island.
With plans at an advanced stage for the main event, the decision was
taken to give some space in the schedule for the ‘stars of the
future’, and provide some of the International rally experience
over 6 rally stages. The plan is to offer this over the last of the
Friday evening stages and the early morning stages on Saturday morning,
offering some of the flavour of two out of three days in this Donegal
event.
Speaking at press briefing, the SHELL Donegal
rally organiser promised close competition at this year’s event,
and another super week-end of top class sport for the spectators during
the June week-end. “With so much interest in this event, it
is impossible for any new or young driver to get on the entry list,
so this is good that MotorSport Ireland sees fit to allocate some
special spaces in an event, and this is a good move! I believe this
is a decision that is good for the sport and will be seen to pay dividends
in the future.”
Regulations are available now for the Junior
Rally along with the International, National and Historic rallies
on the Donegal Motor Club website, log on to :- www.donegalmotorclub.com
Declan McCay
Clerk of the Course – Shell Donegal Rally Ireland 2005
