Top entry list confirmed as Donegal Rally to honour motorsport icons

The competition numbers of two famed drivers have been retired for the 2023 Donegal International Rally.

The memories of Craig Breen and Ken Block will be honoured with numbers 42 and 43 left blank on this year's entry list.

Block, who competed in the 2019 Donegal International Rally, died following a snowmobile accident in Utah in January.

Block gained a massive following and was particularly famous for a Gymkhana series, which saw him drive high-powered cars around inner-city challenges.

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In 2019, Block took on the Donegal International Rally in a 1994 Escort Cosworth. His bid ended on SS2, Grianan, after he and Alex Gelsomino, his navigator, crashed out.

“His incar footage from the Knockalla Coast Road Stage has to date been viewed a staggering seven and a half million times on social media,” a Donegal International Rally spokesperson noted.

In April, Breen lost his life in a tragic accident in Croatia.

The factory Hyundai driver went off the road during a team test on the asphalt roads. His co-driver James Fulton uninjured.

Breen, who was 33, competed in Donegal on three occasions and was in the county when Manus Kelly from Glenswilly was tragically killed in June 2019 on Special Stage 15, Fanad Head.

Breen's love of Donegal was obvious. Interviewed once on the World Rally Championship TV channel and asked if he could compete in just one rally anywhere in the world, in just one rally car, what it would be, he shot back “Donegal in a Metro 6R4.”

The Donegal International Rally say that the retiring of the numbers of Block and Breen represents “a rare and unique tribute to two of the greatest drivers ever to compete in Donegal”.

The event is now sponsored by Wilton Recycling and a stunning entry list has been confirmed, just over three weeks out from the three-day event.

The Hyundai i20 R5 of Josh Moffett, last year's winner, will go off with the number 1 adorning the door. Moffett will again be joined by Andy Hayes.

The presence of Callum Devine, Meirion Evans, Sam Moffett, Matt Edwards and Robert Barrable at the head of the pack outlines the ferocity of the competition.

Former winners Garry Jennings and Declan Boyle are also included in the top ten.

The full entry list can be viewed here.

The all-Donegal crews of Joseph McGonigle and Ciaran Geaney in a Ford Fiesta R5 Rally 2 and David Kelly and Dean O'Sullivan in a Citroen C3 Rally 2 are just outside the top ten in the seeded list.

Kevin Gallagher in a Darrian, Kevin Eves in a Toyota Corolla Twin Cam the Escorts of Mark Alcorn and Damien Tourish, with Gary Kiernan and David Bogie thrown in the mix, give rise to an exciting modified entry too.

The Clerk of the Course, Eamonn McGee, has confirmed a full entry of 240 cars. He said: "The cream of Irish rallying is once again preparing to make the journey to Donegal to take on the unique challenge of three days that Donegal, has to offer."