Preparations are well advanced for the 2017 Lady Gregory Hotel Galway Summer Stages Rally. It will take place on August 27, and will be a counting round of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship, the Top Part West Coast Championship, and also the Sligo Pallets Border Rally Championship.
A full entry of top line rally drivers from Ireland and the UK is expected, and for the second year, the associate sponsors of the event will be Athenry Company Bluebird Care, and DHKN, Chartered Accountants, Galway - both having being long-time supporters of motorsport in Galway.
The clerk of the course is Mark Parsons, an experienced organiser and rally competitor. The rally headquarters will be the Lady Gregory Hotel, Gort from where competitors will cover a loop of three stages three times, providing 120 kilometres of classic Galway stages never run in this format before. The 2017 event will run to a full weekend format with scrutiny, ceremonial start and entertainment on Saturday August 26. Sunday’s compact route will have a leisurely 10am start, and the rally will finish at 5pm. And for the first time, Galway Motor Club will run a Shakedown Stage on Saturday evening prior to competition on Sunday.
The 2016 Lady Gregory Hotel Galway Summer Rally had a grandstand finish, with Monaghan’s Niall Maquire/James O’Reilly in the Subaru WRC just pipping Gary Kiernan/Ryan Moore in their Escort Mk2 by 5 seconds at the finish. The coveted Conroy Cup for the best Galway Motor Club crew was won by Paul Curley/Jason Ollernshaw on that occasion. With the 2017 event counting for three major championships, competition will be intense in all classes.
Regulations and entry forms for the 2017 rally will be available from the Galway Motor Club website when finalised.
