Renewed hope for Rally Ireland

There is renewed hope that Ireland could hold a round of the World Rally Championship in the near future.

The FIA has rejected the draft championship that North One Sport (formerly International Sportsworld Communicators) proposed which was based entirely around annual 'rotation' events, such as the Acropolis Rally, Rally Finland & Rally GB, which would reduce the number of new events on the calander.

Ireland, Jordan & Norway have all agreed to run on a rotational basis replacing different events each year.

Director of Rally Ireland John Naylor said in an interview with the Belfast Telegraph: "It could mean the door is open for us again although I would not expect Rally Ireland to be included in any revised calendar for 2011 at this stage. But I am encouraged by the possibility we could be considered for 2012."

President of the World Rally Championship Commission Morrie Chandler siad in an interview with Autosport.com: "I know North One doesn't want rotation, but there are some obvious candidates. A year ago, I believed we had reached a solution that there would be seven or eight, maximum nine annual events and then eight which would rotate.

"The new events which joined the series, like Norway, Jordan and Ireland all said from day one that they would be happy to run every second year. This provides a bit of colour and allows you to tell a different story each year, while retaining your core events.

"I don't hold that rotation is the solution, but I do see a small portion of rotation as, perhaps, meeting the needs of some countries and adding variety. I've had this debate with North One and they've got good business reasons about why they don't want to do that and I can understand that."

It has also emerged that FIA President Jean Todt has asked Chandler to begin investigating a joining between the two top level rallying championships, the IRC & the WRC.

If this merger did get the OK, then the Circuit Of Ireland, which has recently been granted IRC Supporter event status (alongside the Sibiu Rally (Romania) & the Allianz Rally (Hungary)) for the 2010 IRC season, would be at the top of the list for selection.

Rally Director Bobby Willis intends to run the Easter event from Belfast to Dublin, meeting the request of the FIA, which states that they must visit both capitals.

As an extra plus, some of the masterminds of the hugely successful Rally Ireland of 2007 & 2009 are now at the head of the the Circuit Of Ireland.