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RALLY: Statoil Confirms Sixth Year as Sponsor of Galway International Car Rally

25 November 1998

Galway Motor Club is pleased to announce that Statoil Ireland will again sponsor the Statoil Galway International car rally scheduled to take place on the earlier weekend of February 5th/6th/7th, 1999. This will be the sixth year of Statoil's sponsorship of the first round of the Toshiba Equium Irish Rally Championship, which will have a number of improvements in format for 1999.

The event will be held over the first weekend in February 1999. It will have a loop system of special stages, with centralised servicing, and pace note making on the previous weekend, January 30th/31st and February 4th/5th, 1999. Crews will check in on Friday 5th for scrutiny, and competition will start from Eyre Square in the heart of Galway on Saturday morning. No overnight driving means crews will return to Galway that evening, and spectators will have local opportunities to see the cars in service and in action on Sunday morning.

The event has grown so large that again for 1999, Galway Motor Club will have its rally offices in the nearby Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, Dublin Road Renmore, Galway, where results and other information will be posted. The Corrib Great Southern Hotel will again be Rally HQ, with ticket-only admission to the social functions in its Atlantic Suite.

All classes of cars allowed by the R.I.A.C., including Historics, will be allowed, and are not restricted to Group N (standard) or F2 (formula 2 or front drive only) cars, thus ensuring the continuation of rallying for clubman entries. Class changes for 1999 are Class 8 will now include World Rally Cars (WRC), Class 9 is now to 1400cc (previously 1350cc) and Class 11 is now to 2050cc (previously 2000cc)

New faces are in charge for 1999: Bruce Catchpole is the new Clerk of the Course, assisted by Ray Bent. Previous CoCs John O'Connell and Bobby Clinton are on the management committee with Club Secretary Dennis Murphy.

Applications for Regulations should be sent to: Evelyn Leonard, 10 Beechwood Close, Loughrea, Co Galway, Tel. 00 353 91-847453, Fax 00353 91- 524557 or email: carsport@indigo.ie. The entry fee will be IR395 or 375 stg. [IR295 (275 stg.) in the case of Historic car entries] which figure includes Personal Accident insurance and the "standard rate" I.R.D.S. insurance for two days.