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Sébastien Loeb won Rally Ireland in 2007 and 2009. Both were held as cross-border events in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The bid to bring the World Rally Championship back to Ireland from 2025 will be announced by Motorsport Ireland on Tuesday.
On Thursday and Friday, WRC officials visited three locations in County Kerry: Limerick, Waterford and Tralee.
The WRC was last held in Ireland in 2007 and 2009, with Sebastien Loeb winning both races.
The bid follows several failed attempts in recent years to host the WRC in Northern Ireland.
Four previous bids to host Northern Ireland’s premier series of rallies (2020, 2021, 2022 and 2024) have failed, largely due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 19) due to the pandemic and subsequent funding deadlines due to the Stormont Government’s lack of devolution.
However, delays over bids north of the Irish border continue and all eyes are now on whether Rally Ireland will return to the calendar under what is proposed to be a three-year contract starting in 2025. ing.
The proposed site in Limerick includes a service park, fan zone and facilities requiring 10,000 square meters of space to be held at Limerick Racecourse.
Tralee University of Technology in County Kerry and the base in Waterford City are the other two locations put forward to host the WRC.
Motorsport Ireland chairman Aiden Harper confirmed to RTE Sport that they have applied for funding from the Irish government and that unless that happens the event will not go ahead.
“Our request is very simple: a €15 million investment from the government that will generate a return of €300 million over three years, which is a pretty strong business case,” he said. .
“Funding applications are currently being advanced at various levels within government and local politicians, chambers of commerce and a wide range of people will support us once we announce where the actual venue will be to host the service park. We will also be involved in lobbying for funding guarantees.
“But all of this is predicated on getting government funding. We are very far along in our planning in terms of venue selection, securing venues, etc., but if funding does not become available, the world We can’t hold a competition.’ We have a rally championship here in Ireland. ”