KILLARNEY and District Motor Club launched the Assess Ireland International Rally of the Lakes at the Gleneagle Hotel on Sunday afternoon.

The 43rd running of the biggest rally in Kerry will take place on May 4 and 5. Rally fans can expect an action-packed weekend, beginning with the now-traditional ceremonial start on Main Street on Friday night.

Speaking at the launch, clerk of the course Cormac Casey outlined some of the plans for this year’s rally and thanked the large group of people that have helped pull this event together.

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“I’d like to welcome back to Assess Ireland who is the title sponsor for the second year and hopefully for many more years,” said Mr Casey.

“There are many moving parts that made this event possible and so many fantastic people behind those moving parts. I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who knows who you are. I have been involved for many years and it is an absolute pleasure to work with such people.”

The rally returns to the Beara Peninsula on Saturday and the route will include classic favourites like Cod’s Head, Ardgroom and the Healy Pass.

Sunday’s route also features some new roads, as the rally heads to east Kerry with newer versions of old favourites on offer including a longer version of Gortnagane.
Returning too for 2024 is title sponsor  Assess Ireland.  The Gleneagle Hotel and KC Print/The Killarney Advertiser are the events accommodation and publishing partners.

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THE 2024 Assess Ireland International Rally of the Lakes will take place over the May Bank Holiday weekend from May 3 to 5.

A capacity entry is anticipated for the fourth round of the 2024 Samdec Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.

The rally is also a counting round of the new-for-2024 Stellantis Cup for Peugeot and Opel Rally4 cars, the Southern Four regional rally championship and the Kingdom of Kerry county rally championship ensuring a stellar entry across all categories.

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The Rally of Lakes is expected to generate over 5,000 bed nights for Killarney and surrounding areas which is estimated to generate more than €5m of revenue for the local economy.

Clerk of the Course, Cormac Casey, said “Event planning is at an advanced stage. We are holding regular meetings and the event is coming together nicely, We hope to open entries as soon as regulations have been approved.”

The rally will return to the famous stages on the Beara Peninsula on Saturday including such loved roads as Ardgroom, Cod’s Head and the Tim Healy Pass.

Saturday’s loop, close to Killarney, will be run over many familiar East Kerry roads with some new twists and additional mileage thrown in for good measure.

The rally will get underway with scrutineering of cars at 1.00 pm on Friday, May 3. This will be followed by a Ceremonial Start in Killarney town centre from around 7 pm that evening.

Both will be ideal opportunities to see the rally cars and drivers before the start of the competition. The headquarters for the event is the Gleneagle Hotel on Muckross Road.

Admission to all events will be free over the weekend. Official Rally Programmes will be available  at least ten days  before the event.

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THE Assess Ireland Rally of the Lakes will begin from this evening with the 42nd running of the event bringing an early season boost to the Killarney locality.

With close to 200 competitors, from as far afield as Australia set to take part in the event, Killarney town will be busy all weekend.

The Lewis Road car park is already closed to the public since Thursday night to allow overnight parking for the 200 rally cars taking part in the event. This car park will remain out of bounds until late on Sunday evening.

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The ceremonial start takes place on Main Street on Friday night. As a result there will be traffic disruptions in the town centre from  6pm until 9pm.

The ceremonial start is a family friendly event and presents an ideal opportunity to meet the star drivers ahead of their two days of competition.

The ramp celebration is being organised by Mike Moriarty. He has arranged extra entertainment including music and dancing to set the tone for the Friday event.

“People can expect plenty of surprises on the night, and some of our local drivers will be celebrated too,” he said.

The rally itself takes place on Saturday and Sunday.

The Molls’ Gap road will close from 7 am to 11.15 am on Saturday morning. However, the rally moves into the Beara Peninsula and the Castletownbear area for the remainder of the day and the rally will not affect local traffic.

Sunday’s action includes repeats of Moll’s Gap and visits to Ballaghbeama. Moll’s Gap will close from 6.30 am until 1.15 pm while Ballaghbeama will be out of bounds from 7.30 to 2 pm.

The Sunday pitstop  for the rally is at the Liebherr Container Crane Factory in Fossa so approach roads to and from the village will be busy all day and motorists are advised to plan their journeys accordingly.

The afternoon action switches to East Kerry with Rathmore, Barraduff and Gneeveguilla all set to be much busier than usual.

The Gortnagane road will close from 12.15 pm to 6.05 pm while Knockrower East area will be closed from 12.45 pm to 6.45 pm.

Full details of the route and additional information are available in the official programme which is on sale on a host of outlets locally.

THE International Rally of the Lakes is set to roar into Killarney this coming weekend.

The rally, in its 41st edition, is set to attract tens of thousands of spectators to the town for what is sure to be a festival-like atmosphere over the May Bank Holiday Weekend.

The rally returns for the first time in three years, as the 2020 and 2021 events had to be put on hold due to the Covid 19 Pandemic.

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The rally has a range of title sponsors for the 2022 event. Rentokil Initial, Aherns.ie Motorgroup, The Gleneagle Hotel and OSI have all joined forces to ensure the rally remains viable in what is a difficult return to action for both rallying and the businesses themselves following the pandemic.

Close on 200 cars and crews set to tackle Killarney’s iconic stages, some of which are on every rally competitor’s bucket list to complete.

The rally kicks off on Friday evening, with a ceremonial start ramp on Main Street. The first car is due over the ramp at 7 pm. Radio Kerry DJ Ivan Hurley will be on land to get Main Street rocking in anticipation of the arrival of the competing cars.

The rally proper starts Saturday in the late morning, with runs over Kilsarcon, Banard and Gortnagane, before a trip to service in Liebherr Container Cranes. Crews will once again tackle those 3 stages in the afternoon.

Rally traffic can be expected in Kilcummin, Scartaglin, Gneeveguilla, Rathmore and Barraduff on Saturday.

After an overnight halt in Killarney, competitors will have the daunting task of Molls Gap and Ballaghbeama to negotiate in the morning, each stage being run twice.

The afternoon will see the crews fight for the rally win on ‘Shanera’ and ‘Caragh Lake’, where overall and class winners will be crowned Killarney’s champions. Sunday traffic will be in the Muckross, Glencar, Beaufort and the Killorglin areas.

The crews will then make their way to Rally HQ, The Gleneagle Hotel for a champagne celebration on the Finish Ramp before a trophy presentation later on that evening at a function that evening.