One thing is certain: the outcome of the 2007 World Rally Championship will be decided in the British Isles, and quite possibly on the first of the season's last two fixtures the inaugural Rally Ireland for which Citroën Sport has entered two C4 WRCs for Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena and Dani Sordo/Marc Martí.

After visits earlier in the year to Norway and Portugal, the Irish round is the third and final newcomer to the 2007 WRC calendar. The event is based in Sligo, in the northwest corner of the island, and a special feature of the route is the fact that it straddles two countries: the Republic of Ireland and Ulster.

A total of 20 stages are programmed over the three legs, the first of which is the longest of the rally with no less than 168km of against-the-clock action... practically half the weekend's total competitive distance.

To find out whether the island's asphalt roads warranted their reputation, Citroën Sport paid an exploratory visit to the Donegal Rally with a C4 WRC for Sébastien and Daniel. The combination of the data collected during that outing and the team's desire to perfect its preparation for the fifteenth round of the 2007 championship prompted the French squad to organise a second dry run, this time on the Cork Rally, for which Seb and Daniel were joined by Dani and Marc to give the Spanish pair a chance to familiarise themselves with the terrain, too.


These two events enabled Citroën to gauge just how virile the Irish stages promise to be.

"There's no other asphalt event like it in the WRC," recognises Sébastien Loeb. "The stages in the Sligo region might turn out to be a little different to those we saw in Donegal and Cork, but we are expecting them to be very fast, narrow and bumpy, and lined with big banks. They are likely to be a very difficult cocktail, especially when you consider that it is imperative that we win. It will doubtlessly be close but we'll give it everything we've got!"

Seb's analysis is echoed by Dani: "Although the Cork Rally took place in the south of Ireland, it still showed us how specific the Irish lanes are," he reports. "They were a big surprise to me, especially the grip which is low even in the dry. So I can only imagine what it will be like if it's wet!"

Indeed, the Spaniard's remark highlights a factor that could well play a big role this weekend: the weather. The region in which the event takes place is by no means immune from fronts moving in from the Atlantic.
"The stages are atypical with many potential pitfalls. Adverse weather conditions would obviously make them more selective still. Rain would also make tyre choices even more complex which is another important factor. All the ingredients are in place to ensure that the inaugural Rally Ireland will be no stroll," predicts Guy Fréquelin.

"The result in Japan and the effect it had on the situation in the Drivers' championship make me glad that we decided to prepare our visit to Ireland so thoroughly. To keep their title chances alive, Sébastien and Daniel need to win. Meanwhile, Dani and Marc will again do what they can to finish between his team-mates and Marcus Grönholm. The Citroën C4 is unbeaten on asphalt this year and we hope that we will manage to keep up that record on this very different sort of terrain"

"Everyone at Citroën Sport is aware of the size of the challenge we face but we couldn't be more motivated," concludes Fréquelin, who will be retiring at the end of the season.

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Eddie Irvine to drive for Red Bull
The Red Bull VW Touareg -- the top team in cross-country rallying will make a special appearance at the Super Special Stage of WRC-- where Rally Ireland will kick off on Thursday the 15th of November in Stormont, Belfast. Northern Ireland's own, Eddie Irvine will turn back the clock & take to the wheel of the Red Bull VW Touareg on this very special occasion.

Cheered on by his home crowd, expect the 'Swerve' to show he still has what it takes when he thrills the crowd with a demonstration of what the Touareg can do. Irvine famously drove in Formula 1 for Jordan and drove with all time great Michael Schumacher at Ferrari.

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Speed is life

Interesting stuff from Loeb their. I suppose yes, on paper Citroen will be quicker. However, these roads are much different to the Spainish ones and the Corsica Rally. So you can't really draw any comparsions.

It will be a combinatio of keeping your nerve and car pace next weekend.

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The event is unique for a sealed surface rally. Even if it stays dry (unlikely) the tarmac offers less grip than would be expected, liberally sprinkled with gravel in some places and the products of farm traffic, more normally found in fields, in others. In addition to the changeable surfaces the roads are also extremely bumpy as well as narrow.
With the championship at stake, expect the title contenders to start cautiously. I anticipate the second string works drivers to be setting the early pace, with local privateers getting embroiled in the preliminary battle for fast stage times amongst the top twenty whilst the WRC front runners find their feet. Of the local drivers worth watching I suggest Eugene Donnelly, who has recently acquired a Skoda Fabia WRC. Also spectacularly fast but not very consistent in Irish events has been the young, rich and very talented Norwegian Andreas Mikkelson in his Ford Focus WRC.

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Meeke and McHale to lead off
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport ... 155374.ece

Eugene Donnelly tips Kris Meeke for top 3
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport ... 155369.ece

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Thr first and final stages are live on Eurosport!

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Aww what a shame i just had a phone call from work to say i gotta go to ireland in the morning for 2 days so hopefully wont have much work and can try and get to the event sometime over the next few days.

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Check out some of my pics from racing in the UK

http://michaelward.fotopic.net/list_collections.php

You jammy git
(I hope all the B + B's are full )

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This year and last, Andreas Mikkelsen participated in the country's premier rally championship, The Irish Tarmac championship, which traverses the North-South border on several occasions during the season. He recently won the Fastnet Stages Rally on 28 October, beating 2007 Champion Eugene Donnelly on every stage and has enjoyed close battles with Donnelly in other rounds of the championship.

Mikkelsen is an 18 year old rally driver currently his first WRC season but probably has most experience on Irish roads of all the current Norwegian drivers. "Rallying in Ireland is very difficult and technical," he began. "Added to which, the weather conditions are changing all the time so you go from dry to sudden rain showers and then sunshine again so it's really difficult to predict in terms of tyre choice. That will be a challenge for all the teams, I'm sure, but I'm hoping for really awful weather as that what's I'm used to on these roads!"

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Nah i stopping in the benedicts hotel in the centre of belfast so the only thing i will prolly get to go too is the super special at the parliment building. Which tbh is the bit i want to see as the jump/bridge as it looks awesome on the videos on the web.

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Check out some of my pics from racing in the UK

http://michaelward.fotopic.net/list_collections.php

Have a great time Mike, you lucky sod.
(200k's to Sligo so some of Saturday's can't be too far away from Belfast)

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I'm certain that this rally will be the most exciting one...

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cant i coming home friday night so if i not busy gonna drive across on the friday and maybe make a stage if possible.

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Check out some of my pics from racing in the UK

http://michaelward.fotopic.net/list_collections.php

Shakedown test times.
1 Gronholm-Rautiainen Ford Focus RS WRC '07 1:37.3
2 Atkinson-Prevot Subaru Impreza WRC '07 1:38.3
3 Hirvonen-Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC '07 1:38.7
4 Mikkelsen-Floene Ford Focus RS WRC '04 1:39.2
5 Loeb-Elena Citroen C4 WRC 1:39.6
6 Sordo-Marti Citroen C4 WRC 1:40.0
7 Solberg-Mills Subaru Impreza WRC '07 1:40.3
8 Wilson-Orr Ford Focus RS WRC '06 1:40.7
9 Wilks-Pugh Subaru Impreza WRC '05 1:40.9
10 H. Solberg-Bergsten Ford Focus RS WRC '06 1:41.1
11 Latvala-Antilla Ford Focus RS WRC '06 1:41.4
12 McNulty-O'Donell Subaru Impreza WRC '06 1:42.6
13 Stohl-Minor Citroen Xsara WRC '06 1:42.7
14 Pons-Amigo Subaru Impreza WRC '07 1:42.9
15 Meeke-Nagle Subaru Impreza WRC '06 1:44.0
16 Donnelly-Kiely Å koda Fabia WRC '05 1:44.6
17 McHale-Harryman Ford Focus RS WRC '06 1:45.1
18 Jones-Moynihan Ford Focus RS WRC '04 1:45.2
19 Boland-Regan Subaru Impreza WRC '05 1:46.0
20 Breen-Purcell Ford Focus RS WRC '04 1:46.5
21 A. McHale-Duffy Ford Focus RS WRC '03 1:46.9
22 Nesbitt-O'Brien Subaru Impreza WRC '05 1:47.7
23 Al Qassimi-Beech Ford Focus RS WRC '07 1:48.8
24 Barrett-Goodman Subaru Impreza WRC '05 1:51.3

Go Mikkelson!

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Loeb is slow, Gronholm first!

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