Northern Ireland’s blue riband stage rally will take place over two days next year instead of just one – and form part of a new-look NAPA Irish Tarmac Rally Championship (ITRC).
The Ulster will also be a counting round of the ultra-competitive and highly prestigious European Rally Trophy (ERT), with Modern Tyres – Ireland’s largest retail tyre company and specialist in car brakes, batteries, and exhausts – once again the principal sponsor.
A Friday-Saturday itinerary has been rubber stamped for the Ulster Rally by the organising Northern Ireland Motor Club. As one of only two international-status events currently in the whole of the UK, it is set to take place on the weekend of August 15th and 16th.
This year’s instalment saw the Irish pairing of Keith Cronin and his co-driver Mikie Galvin emerge triumphant on the Newry-based meeting in their Ford Fiesta Rally2 – a result that paved the way for them to wrap up the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship Fisher Memorial Perpetual Trophy for the second time in their careers. Their first title was sealed in 2016.
For the 2025 Ulster Rally, only a single special stage will be carried over from this year’s itinerary, with more than one hundred competitive miles awaiting crews. Night stages – a signature of the Ulster Rally for almost half a century now – are also going to feature.
The Ulster Rally’s returning Clerk of the Course, Wayne Turkington, said: “I am pleased to confirm that we are returning to a two-day format in 2025, with more than one hundred stage miles planned – approximately 50% for each day of this popular Tarmac meeting.
“The current rally plan contains several completely new stages that are going to be mixed with some that have not been used for many years, so that will really add to the challenge. This decision is influenced by the positive feedback we received from crews this year.”
On Modern Tyres returning for a fifth year as the headline sponsor, Wayne added: The entire organising team is once again delighted to have the support of Modern Tyres and we plan to be based at their world-class warehousing facility in Newry next August.”
