The postponement of the Galway International Rally last month because of Storm Éowyn means that this weekend's Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally is now the opening round of the 2025 Irish Tarmac Rally Championship (ITRC).
The ITRC is now down to six events as the Galway Motor Club have not made an application to Motorsport Ireland for a new date, despite having had meetings with the governing body of the sport here.
There are suggestions that there may be a one-day event in Galway added to the ITRC in 2025, but that has not been confirmed.
This weekend's event in Cork is now also overshadowed by the announcement from Motorsport Ireland that Euro M-Sport will not be providing a refueling service at the event.
A statement issued by Euro M-Sport which has supplied fuel to the ITRC for the past three years states that, "during our regular pre-event checks for this weekend, an issue was identified that we sought immediate clarification on.
"Due (to) the technicalities of the service we provide, and having still not received a clear and definitive answer, we have found ourselves in the difficult position where we cannot risk our business.
"We feel we have a solution to this issue, but unfortunately, the speed at which this will happen is outside of our control."
The Cork Motor Club said that they "had no prior notice of this decision and is very disappointed, especially given the short notice".
"Despite our reservations regarding the overall proposal for refueling, Cork Motor Club had accepted it and wishes to clarify that they are in no way responsible for this unsatisfactory development."
Competitors who were planning to use the refueling rig will need to make alternative arrangements for their fuel, but the ITRC Association has suspended their rule regarding the use of controlled fuel for this weekend.
Despite that, there is still a strong entry for this weekend's West Cork with 18 special stages to be run across St Patrick's weekend
Top seed is local driver Keith Cronin who will begin the defense of his NAPA Auto Parts ITRC where he lines up as the number one seeds having won the event last year
Twelve months ago, the triumph in Cronin's home county was the second of three wins recorded in a Ford Fiesta during his ITRC winning season.
This time around, he and co-driver Mikie Galvin will be in a Citroën C3 Rally 2 which he is also using in the British Rally Championship (BRC) in 2025.
"We had the Citroën out for the first round of the British Championship last month, so hopefully the experience with the car will stand to us for West Cork."
That debut outing in the C3, on the East Riding Rally in Yorkshire, brought Cronin and Galvin a second-place finish.
Second seed is Matt Edwards, the three-time BRC winner lining up in a Hyundai i20N a new car this season which already seen action this season, coming within 0.5 of a second of victory on the Midland Rally in Longford, the opening round of the National Championship.
It will be Edward’s third attempt at West Cork and the Isle of Man driver will be looking to improve on last year's runner up position.
Past ITRC two-time winner and quadruple National Champion, Josh Moffett, who is also in a Citroën is seeded at number three and has won in West Cork in 2022 and '23.
The event features Jon Armstrong in an M-Sport Ford Fiesta, backed by the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy, who will be using the event as a warm-up for a full-scale assault on European Rally Championship (ERC).
The Top ten further includes Eddie Doherty, the former Tarmac Modified champion, Cathan McCourt, a former Irish Forestry champion, Declan Boyle, a former Tarmac and National Champion, and Jonathan Greer, the multiple Northern Ireland champion.
Daniel Cronin, brother of Keith, is seeded ninth in his Citroën C3 while Michael Boyle and Dermot McCafferty round off the top ten places in a VW Polo Gti R5.
The West Cork Rally gets under way on Friday evening, with the Ballinascarthy and Rossmore stages tackled twice, before and after dark and like last year, at the end of the first day, there will be a fan zone in Clonakilty town.
There will be eight stages on Saturday, with Ring and Kilbrittain running twice in the morning, and Dunworley and Clogagh running twice in the afternoon.
A further six stages follow on Sunday, consisting of two loops of Ardfield, Glandore and Sam's Cross. The podium celebrations are scheduled to take place at Emmet Square, Clonakilty, at 4pm on Sunday evening.
