Dungannon's Kris Meeke will take the place of the late Hyundai driver Craig Breen in this weekend's Terras d'Aboboreira Rally in Portugal.
Meeke will also compete in the WRC's Rally Portugal in May in what will be his first rally at world level since the end of 2019.
Breen and the County Tyrone driver spent three seasons as team-mates with Citroen from 2016 to 2018 prior to Meeke’s sacking midway through that year. Meeke then retired from the WRC after a poor year with Toyota.
Breen was due to compete in last weekend's Rally Croatia and the Terras d'Aboboreira Rally as part of his third-car duties deal with Hyundai.
"I first accepted the offer because it was my desire to get back into racing, but I also thought about what Craig would say to me, and I know that he would tell me to accept," Meeke said.
"This is how I will honour Craig. I will continue to compete as he always has – I will try to win and enjoy it."
Meeke will drive the i20 N Rally2 in the Portuguese championship, allowing Team Hyundai Portugal to continue to field a two-car line-up for the event. Ricardo Teodosio will be the 43-year-old’s team-mate.
Meanwhile, the fourth round of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship will see drivers, cars and crews head to Kerry this weekend for the 42nd running of the Access Ireland Killarney International Rally of the Lakes.
It's likely to be something of a sombre affair after the passing of Breen, who won the event in 2019 on his way to winning the Tarmac title.
Last year's winner Callum Devine is the top seed in his Volkswagen Polo R5 and he is very much in the championship hunt after taking victory on the Circuit of Ireland.
Devine led from the opening stage and had a 10.2-second win over championship leader Josh Moffett.
Galway International Rally winner Meirion Evans (Hyundai) finished third on the Circuit and it’s all to play for at the top of the standings as the ITRC reaches the midway point this weekend.
Others likely to be in contention over the weekend include Sam Moffett (Hyundai) and Robert Barrable (Citroen), with the latter making a return to rallying after a number of years absent from the sport.
Barrable showed he had lost none of his battling skills when he almost chased down Moffett on round two of the West Cork Rally only to be pipped on the last stage. A good start is essential if he is not to be playing catch up once again.
The traditional ceremonial start of the Rally of the Lakes takes place on Main Street on Friday night and will also include the ongoing modified, historic and junior class in a full capacity entry of 200 cars and crews.
The rally returns to the Beara Peninsula on Saturday for the first time since 2019 and the route will include favourites like Cod's Head, Ardgroom and the Healy Pass.
Sunday's features some new roads and after two runs over Moll's Gap and Ballaghbeama, the rally heads to east Kerry.
The sting in the tail includes two runs over Gortnagane and a stage that has not been used for rallying since the 1983 Circuit of Ireland – the last time the famed five-day event visited Kerry.
