The Killarney Historic Rally will kick off the 2025 NAPA Auto Parts Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, round one of the Wales Motorsport Fabrication Historic ITRC.
The event which takes place on Saturday 30 November is highly anticipated with a host of top crews tackling its eight stages.
Ireland’s leading historic series has grown from strength to strength in recent years and a 70-car entry for Killarney’s historic category hints at another stellar year of rallying ahead.
Two-time Killarney Historic Rally winner Jonathan Greer has once again swapped his usual Citroen C3 Rally2 for his classy Ford Sierra to defend the end-of-year classic alongside co-driver Niall Burns.
Greer’s Killarney crown will come under threat from Donagh Kelly and Rory Kennedy who have finished fourth, sixth, and second in their last three Killarney attempts aboard the Bastos liveried BMW M3.
Local favourites Alan Ring and Adrian Deasy are seeded third in their Subaru Legacy and will be looking to go one better than their runner-up finishes in 2021 and 2022.
Historic ITRC’s three most recent championship winners have entered 2025’s opening round. Wales’ Tomas Davies will start the defense of his drivers’ title, seeded eighth in Killarney aboard his Ford Escort RS1800. Davies is a Killarney Historic Rally winner – taking the 2011 edition ahead of Denis Moynihan’s Ford Escort RS1600. Moynihan who has made no fewer than 10 Killarney Historic starts, winning in 2015 and 2018, is seeded eighth for this year’s event.
2023 and 2019 Historic ITRC champion Duncan Williams will make his 10th Killarney Historic Rally start, his first event with Cork co-driver Iarla McCarthy calling the pacenotes.
The 2022 championship-winning duo of Neil Williams and Anthony O’Sullivan are seeded within Killarney Historic’s top five. O’Sullivan claimed 2024’s co-drivers’ title while Williams has put in pacey performances on the Cork 20, West Cork, and of course Killarney Historic Rally in the past couple of years.
Cathan McCourt, Eamonn Kelly, and Eddie Doherty join Greer as homologated stars switching to historic machinery on 30 November. All three will be bidding to emulate Greer’s Killarney Historic success and will undoubtedly put on a show in the process.
Tom Clark, Ray Breen, and John O’Donnell have proved their Historic ITRC potential and start 2025’s opener in a Ford Escort, Subaru Legacy, and BMW M3 respectively.
Fergus O’Meara completes the top 12 with a certain Irish Tarmac Champion co-driver, Mikie Galvin, joining O’Meara on his BMW M3 debut.
As if that spectacle isn’t enough, two-time World Rally Champions Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen are tackling the famous Moll’s Gap, Ballaghbeama, Caragh Lake, and Kilcummin stages in the rally’s modified category.
Rovanpera will need to adjust quickly to Jason Black’s Toyota Starlet if he is to keep Ireland’s best modified drivers at bay. His list of challengers include Robert Duggan, Kevin Eves, Conor Murphy, Declan Gallagher, and Colin O’Donoghue.
Photo by D Harrigan Images
Words by Adam Hall