The Cork 20 Rally or Cork 20 International Rally is an annual

motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

rallying Rallying is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (sometimes called "rally racing" in United States), navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed ...

event run by the Munster Car Club and held in the vicinity of Cork in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The Cork 20 Rally was first held in 1912, with the original event named because it spanned 20 hours. It is run as a round within the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, and draws competitors from Ireland North and South, Britain, and continental Europe. The rally was part of the National Rally Championship between 1966 and 1976. It became a full international rally in 1977.

History

The event has been run in different parts of County Cork since the 1960s, with

Kinsale Kinsale ( ; ) is a historic port and fishing town in County Cork, Ireland. Located approximately south of Cork (city), Cork City on the southeast coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon, and has a populatio ...

acting as the main hub throughout the 1970s, and Cork city being home to the event a few times also. The final stage of the 1980 event started on Patrick Street and went through Grand Parade and the South Mall in front of thousands of spectators. In later years, the event was run in the north and east Cork regions, with some sections run in mid Cork also. The event returned to

West Cork West Cork () is a tourist region and municipal district in County Cork, Ireland. As a municipal district, West Cork falls within the administrative area of Cork County Council, and includes the towns of Bantry, Castletownbere, Clonakilty, Du ...

in 2010. The format of the original rally was similar to the

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, in that there were several starting points; Cork,

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and

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. The cars would then meet at a designated town (for example

Clonmel Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...

). The final leg would then run from that town into Cork city. The roads were not officially closed for these early events. The event has been run by various organisers since 1912. In the 1950s, the Cork and Munster Motorcycle Club, based at the neo-classical building Vernon Mount, gave their support to the Cork 20 Rally. With various affiliations, the Cork Motor Club became active in motorsport in the Cork area from 1976 onwards. As of 2019, the event was run by the Munster Car Club.

2007

In 2007, WRC drivers Sébastien Loeb ( C4 WRC), Daniel Sordo ( Xsara WRC), and Mikko Hirvonen ( Focus RS WRC 06/07) all started the rally, heading a field of 130 of which 17 were

World Rally Car A World Rally Car is a racing automobile built to the specific regulations set by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and designed for competition in the World Rally Championship (WRC). The cars were introduced in 1997 as a repl ...

s. Sébastien Loeb won the competition after two days and 14 stages.

2019

The 2019 CB Toolhire Cork 20 International Rally event took place on 28 and 29 September 2019. The rally was the final counting round of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, a counting round of the ERT Celtic Rally Trophy, Southern 4 Rally Championship & South East Stages Rally Championship. The rally consisted of 13 special stages, totaling to , and of liaison. A total of 187 entries were enlisted to the event. The overall winners were the International Class entrants Marty McCormack and Barney Mitchell in a Volkswagen Polo R5. The 'national section' of the rally was won by Damian Toner & Michael Coady competing in the Modified Class. The Junior Class winners were Kieran Reen & Mark O'Leary.

2020

The rally was scheduled to take place on 26 and 27 September 2020. Because of the on-going restrictions to address the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland, on 25 June 2020 the Munster Car Club board of directors took a decision to cancel the 2020 rally. The Irish Tarmac Rally Championship had already been cancelled in late April.

2021

The event was provisionally planned as a stage of the FIA ERT Celtic Rally Trophy on 25-26 September 2021. However, as the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

continued into 2021 and all motorsports events in Ireland remained suspended, the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, which traditionally featured Cork 20 Rally, was cancelled. At the end of May 2021, as the vaccinations were progressing, Motorsport Ireland announced that motorsports events could resume from 7 June 2021, subject to local restrictions. There was no championship, but some event dates were announced. Cork 20 Rally was moved to 19 September, and took place as a one-day event, consisting of in 9 stages (3×3 format). The organisers also featured a 4km Saturday shakedown stage at the Kartworld complex, Watergrasshill. This was the first rally event in Ireland in the 18 months since the first COVID-19 lockdown. The event attracted 165 entries, with 151 starting on the day. The overall winners were Callum Devine and Brian Hoy in a Ford Fiesta R5.

References

{{Reflist Sports competitions in County Cork Rally competitions in Ireland