Circuit of Ireland this weekend

After the disappointment at the Bulldog, Craig Breen and Gareth Roberts have the perfect opportunity to put that episode behind them as the Easter Holiday weekend beckons the traditional trip to the Circuit of Ireland. The Citroën Irish Tarmac Rally Championship roars back into action with round two.

Craig débuted the Fiesta S2000 at the opening round in Galway where he finished second overall, scoring 12 points and also picking up three bonus points for being the first non World Rally Car finisher in the overall classification.

This year’s circuit is based in the Park Inn Hotel, Dundalk with the 15-stage event covering stages in Counties Down, Armagh, Louth and Monaghan. A marathon 29km night-time stage will be the centrepiece of this year’s rally with thousands of fans expected to descend on Dundalk for the ceremonial start on Easter Saturday. Craig is seeded at number six.

All the usual suspects are attending, championship leader after Galway Gareth MacHale (06 Ford Focus WRC) is the top seed, Derek McGarrity driving a Subaru Impreza S12B is in second place and the top three is completed by Tim McNulty in another Impreza S12 B.

Nine stages are scheduled for Easter Saturday, then on Easter Sunday six stages will be run in the Castleblayney/Crossmaglen area.