Rally Retraces Its Antrim Roots
12 October 2008
In
association with the Borough Council, Antrim Town is the new
location that's set to host Northern Ireland's premier motorsport
extravaganza - the 2009 Ulster Rally!
The Ulster has been centred on Armagh City for a number of years,
but now goes back to its roots, with spectacular stages in County
Antrim
Toddsleap.com remains as main sponsor for the 21st and 22nd August
event, and the successful organising team from 2008 returns once
more.
The Holiday Inn hotel at Junction One will be rally HQ, whilst 16
testing special stages in counties Antrim and Londonderry await
crews on the spectacular two day event: three repeated twice on the
Friday and five repeated twice on the Saturday
Commenting on the 2009 stages, Event Clerk of The Course Michael
Johnston said, "Coming to Antrim has given us a great opportunity
to select some really challenging roads, most of which will be a
new test for our competing crews. The selection of Antrim as our
host, will give the town and its businesses a real boost in what
are uncertain times, I trust we will put on a great show for
everyone involved."
Focusing the Ulster on Antrim instead of Armagh will revive some
classic stages that haven't been used for twenty years, and some
can trace their ancestry back as far as 1976, when Cathal Curley
won the first ever Ulster Rally in a Porsche 911.
Mayor of Antrim, Councillor Oran Keenan was encouraged by the
announcement, "We are thrilled to welcome Ulster Rally back 'home'
to Antrim for 2009. Antrim Borough Council is proud to support this
prestigious event, which will no doubt contribute significantly to
the Borough, attracting competitors and visitors from all over UK
and Ireland. We look forward to working with the Club in the run up
to the event and wish them every success."
As usual, the Toddsleap.com Ulster Rally will feature the full
spectrum of high performance machinery, from WRCs to modified
Escorts, and the event will host rounds of the ITC, the BRC, the
Irish and UK Fiesta Sporting Trophies, the Suzuki Swift Cup and the
UK Evo Challenge, with other series to be confirmed.
Benny O'Hanlon, of main sponsor Toddsleap.com commented, "We look
forward to some great performances by all the main characters and
are delighted to continue our association with one of the country's
most popular sporting events, the 2009 Ulster Rally with its new
base should be the biggest and most exciting ever!"
So, if you haven't any dates in your 2009 diary yet, put this one
in now - Friday 21st August, when the revs will be up, the visors
down and the Ulster Rally blasts off from Junction One!
