Donegal International Rally

Donegal International Rally

Category	Rally
Inaugural season	1972
Drivers' champion	Callum Devine
Co-Drivers' champion	Noel O Sullivan
Irish Tarmac Rally Championship
Current season
Celtic Rally Trophy
Current season
European Rally Championship (1975-1979)

Donegal International Rally
Dates	June 20, 2025 (2025-06-20) - June 22, 2025 (2025-06-22)
Frequency	Annual
Location(s)	County Donegal
Country	Ireland
Most recent	2024
Organised by	Donegal Motor Club
Sponsor	Wilton Recycling
Website	Website

The Donegal International Rally is an annual car race in County Donegal, Ireland. It is a well-established Irish annual rally competition and has been one of the most important events in the Irish Rallying calendar.^{[citation needed]} It has a reputation for being one of the country's most challenging rallies.^[1] Organized by the Donegal Motor Club, the annual event begins and concludes in Letterkenny.^[2]

Donegal International Rally has been one of the rounds of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship for a number of years.

The winner of the first event was Cahal Curley. When the event began in 1972, it was based in Downings, but, afterwards, it moved to Letterkenny.

At the 1985 event there was just a one second-difference between the top two finishing cars.

The event, along with most events that year, was cancelled due to the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.^[3]

This was significant blow to local economy. The event is estimated to be worth over €20 million to the Donegal economy each year. The rally attracts approximately 120,000 spectators each year.^{[citation needed]}

At the 2002 event two marshals were killed. The two 22-year-old men, one from Moville, the other from Crossmaglen, died when a car crashed into spectators at around 2.00 pm. Three men were also injured. The remaining stages of the event were cancelled after the serious accident on Stage Two.^[4] Andrew Nesbitt was announced as winner as he led the rally at the time of the accident.

This led to the Motorsport Commission to inspect safety at all future events.^[5]

At the 2008 event an 18-year-old spectator died after being hit by a competing car, at 3.30 pm. The accident happened at Ballyare, about four miles from Letterkenny. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.^[6][7][8] The road was closed and did not re-open for some time. Organisers cancelled the rally for the rest of the day and later announced that the 2008 event would be abandoned as a mark of respect^[9][10] Eugene Donnelly was announced as winner as he led the rally at the time of the accident.

On Saturday Afternoon 19 June 2010, a co-driver died after the car he was in crashed on the Knockalla stage, south of Portsalon, of the event shortly after 3 pm. Thomas Maguire, Aged 26, from Longwood, County Meath was killed and his driver, Shane Buckley, critically injured. As a result, the final stage of the rally was cancelled. This was the first time in the rally's history that a competitor was killed during the rally.^[11]

The Donegal Rally continued to be a counting round of the FIA Celtic Rally Trophy since 2016.^[12] The event attracted a lot of international attention, including Ken Block who showcased his Ford Escort Cosworth. Ken crashed out at SS2 on the first day, but was back the second day under rally 2 rule.^[13]

Due to high traffic and spectator volumes, SS7 on the first day had to be cancelled as a safety measure.^[14] On the third day of the rally, 23 June 2019 at approximately 12:30 IST, three-time and defending champion Manus Kelly crashed during a stage on the Fanad Head loop. His Hyundai i20 R5 went through a hedge into a field and was extensively damaged. Gardaí confirmed that Kelly had died in the incident. His injured co-driver Donall Barrett was taken to hospital and the remaining stages of the rally were cancelled. A 41-year-old father of five and a prominent local businessman, Kelly had been elected to Donegal County Council less than a month before his death. Numerous politicians and representatives of the Irish motorsport community expressed sympathy to his family and paid tribute to the late champion, with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar calling him a "phenomenal motorsportsman."^[15][16][17] At his funeral, 2014 champion Declan Boyle drove Kelly's Subaru Impreza S12B WRC before the funeral cortège, with Kelly's son in the passenger seat.^[18] Following the funeral mass, Kelly's brothers and friends carried his coffin across the Donegal International Rally ramp.^[19]

On 12 March all motorsports events were postponed in the light of the coronavirus pandemic.^[20] On 20 March, Motorsport Ireland issued a statement that all motorsport events are suspended until 1 June 2020.^[21] On 28 April the Tarmac Rally Organisers' Association (TROA) announced that the 2020 Irish Tarmac Rally Championship is cancelled.^[22] There were hopes that the event could still go ahead anyway, as non-counting round of the ITRC.

Shortly after Motorsport Ireland announcement messages on Facebook started circulating that the Donegal Rally is cancelled.^[23] Other sources claimed that it has been postponed.^[24] Donegal Motor Club stepped in to correct the rumours that the event is not cancelled, and if permitted, will go ahead as planned on 19–21 June.^[25] However, after the government released a road map on easing the COVID-19 restrictions on 6 May,^[26] Motorsport Ireland released a statement same day that in line with Phase 4 of this road map the suspension of all motor sports events is extended until the 20 July 2020. Rally events fall under Phase 5 of the guidelines and will not be considered until after the 10 August 2020.^[27] The restrictions continued into 2021.

As the country remained subject to restrictions aimed at controlling the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the TROA made an announcement on 3 February 2021 to cancel the 2021 Championship.^[28][29] As the vaccinations were progressing, at the end of May Motorsport Ireland announced that motorsports events can resume from 7 June, subject to local restrictions.^[30] Remaining restrictions made impossible for Donegal International Rally to take place. Instead, a virtual Donegal Rally was held on the traditional days of the event - series of virtual interviews, videos of past rallies, and social media posts.^[31]

This year's event consisted of 301 kilometres over 20 stages. It was a counting round of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship and the Celtic Rally Trophy. The starting grid was capped at maximum of 160 competitors, plus 25 historic and 25 junior competitors. The starting fee was EUR 1600. The event was labelled as the biggest rally of the year in Ireland.^[32] An incident occurred where a 62-year-old man was arrested after damaging one of the competitor cars by cutting wires and the fuel lines.^[33]

Year	Driver	Co-Driver	Car	Notes
1972	Cahal Curley	Peter Scott	BMW 2002	[34]
1973	Cahal Curley	Terry Harryman	Porsche Carrera
1974	Cahal Curley	Victor Armstrong	Porsche Carrera
1975	Achim Warmbold	John Davenport	BMW 2002
1976	Brian Nelson	Malcolm Neill	Porsche Carrera
1977	Billy Coleman	Austin Frazer	Lancia Stratos HF
1978	Ari Vatanen	Peter Bryant	Ford Escort RS1800
1979	Brian Nelson	Rodney Cole	Ford Escort RS1800
1980	Jimmy McRae	Mike Nicholson	Vauxhall Chevette HSR
1981	John Lyons	Bill Moffett	Ford Escort RS1800
1982	John Lyons	Bill Moffett	Ford Escort RS1800
1983	Vincent Bonner	Seamus McGettigan	Ford Escort RS1800
1984	Billy Coleman	Ronan Morgan	Opel Manta 400
1985	Billy Coleman	Ronan Morgan	Porsche 911 SC RS
1986	Billy Coleman	Ronan Morgan	MG Metro 6R4
1987	Bertie Fisher	Austin Frazer	Opel Manta 400
1988	Mark Lovell	Terry Harryman	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth
1989	David Llewellin	Phil Short	Toyota Celica GT-Four
1990	Austin McHale	Dermot O'Gorman	BMW M3
1991	James Cullen	Ellen Morgan	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth
1992	Bertie Fisher	Rory Kennedy	Subaru Legacy RS
1993	Bertie Fisher	Rory Kennedy	Subaru Legacy RS
1994	Stephen Finlay	Roy Campbell	Ford Escort RS Cosworth
1995	Bertie Fisher	Rory Kennedy	Subaru Legacy RS
1996	Andrew Nesbitt	George Millar	Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD
1997	Austin McHale	Brian Murphy	Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD
1998	Andrew Nesbitt	James O'Brien	Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD
1999	James Cullen	Ellen Morgan	Subaru Impreza 555
2000	Andrew Nesbitt	James O'Brien	Subaru Impreza S5 WRC
2001	Event did not run, foot-and-mouth disease outbreak			[35]
2002	Andrew Nesbitt	James O'Brien	Subaru Impreza S6 WRC	Event Cancelled after SS2 [36]
2003	Andrew Nesbitt	James O'Brien	Subaru Impreza S7 WRC
2004	Eugene Donnelly	Paul Kiely	Toyota Corolla WRC	[37]
2005	Eugene Donnelly	Paul Kiely	Toyota Corolla WRC	[38]
2006	Andrew Nesbitt	James O'Brien	Mitsubishi Lancer WRC 05	[39][40]
2007	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	Citroën C4 WRC	[41]
2008	Eugene Donnelly	Paul Kiely	Škoda Fabia WRC	Event Stopped after SS11 [42]
2009	Gareth MacHale	Brian Murphy	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	[43]
2010	Gareth MacHale	Brian Murphy	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	Event Stopped after SS11 [44]
2011	Tim McNulty	Paul Kiely	Subaru Impreza S12B WRC 07	[45]
2012	Garry Jennings	Neil Doherty	Subaru Impreza S14 WRC 08	[46]
2013	Sam Moffett	James O'Reilly	Subaru Impreza WRC	[47]
2014	Declan Boyle	Brian Boyle	Subaru Impreza S12B WRC 07	[48]
2015	Garry Jennings	Rory Kennedy	Subaru Impreza S12B WRC 07	[49]
2016	Manus Kelly	Donall Barrett	Subaru Impreza S12B WRC 07	[50]
2017	Manus Kelly	Donall Barrett	Subaru Impreza S12B WRC 07	[51]
2018	Manus Kelly	Donall Barrett	Subaru Impreza S12B WRC 07	[52]
2019	Sam Moffett	James Fulton	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	Event stopped after SS15 [53]
2020	Event cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021	Event cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2022	Josh Moffett	Andy Hayes	Hyundai i20 R5	[54]
2023	Callum Devine	Noel O Sullivan	Volkswagen Polo R5
2024	Callum Devine	Noel O Sullivan	Škoda Fabia RS Rally2	[55]

* as of 2022^[34]

Driver most wins Andrew Nesbitt 6 Billy Coleman 4 Bertie Fisher 4

Driver most starts Robbie Peoples 29 Daniel Conaghan 28 Ivan Stewart 28 James Cullen 25 Thomas Keys 25 Austin MacHale 24 Seamus Gallagher 23 Damien Gallagher 23 Bertie Fisher 22

Most stage wins Bertie Fisher 110 Andrew Nesbitt 103 Austin MacHale 81 Billy Coleman 61 James Cullen 60

The event was previously sponsored by Shell, Topaz Energy and Joule. The current sponsors of the Donegal International Rally are Wilton Recycling and The Mount Errigal Hotel.

• Official Site
• Donegal International Rally Past Winners
• James McDaid Crash Video – 1986
• Donegal International Rally Images on Letterkenny Guide
• Donegal International Rally Images on Flickr
• Donegal International Rally Images on Rally Retro