Young Imokilly Driver Cian Walsh will Campaign a Toyota Corolla Twin Cam on the Junior section of the (TROA) Tarmac Championship.
  The Castlemartyr native  was brought up around rallying and his father Willie Walsh had some great results over the years in the car that Cian now drives.
Cians motorsport endeavors started out on a dirt bike in 2006 he admits himself he wasnt really on the pace but really it was cars he was interested in, so a switch to four wheels in the form of go karting where he competed for 3 years, then he didnt do any motorsport for a few years ,when he reached the age of  14  he got his  first hotrod and from there  raced with East Cork HotRod club for 5 years. These were great times says Cian and I raced with my friends who have now moved on to rallying also, guys like Aaron McEvoy,Killian o Brien,Anthony o Driscol and John Joe Williams.In the middle of that I talked my father into leaving me do a few Hillclimbs/Rallysprints when I was 17 then in 2018 I competed in the first rally as a navigator with Anthony o Driscoll in West Cork  later in the year I finally got to drive my first rally which was Imokilly Mini Stages... my plan for 2019 is to compete in the Junior Irish Tarmac Championship.

Cian Would like to thank his sponsors 
William Walsh and sons Loadall hire
Foley cars and commercials
Apw engineering
 Cathal Browne and all the lads at powertune Motorsport who will run the car

Report in Association with Club Sponsor 
Premier Auto Parts Midleton
1a, Rosehill Industrial Estate, Balinacurra, Midleton, Co. Cork
(021) 463 4012

Willie back in the day.                                                Cian On the Historic Lakes. 

I suppose while the press release below tells the story the news is that Mikko Hirvonen will drive a MK 2 Escort owned by IMC member Kevin Dolphin , Kevin's left hand drive Escort was the perfect car for the WRC star. 

Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally 2019 Press Release 3 
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The 2019 Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally will see one of the most recognisable and popular rally stars of his generation, Mikko Hirvonen set to compete on this year’s event. The Finnish superstar and former Ford works driver will take the wheel of a Ford Escort Mk2 for St. Patrick’s weekend. Mikko helped Ford to manufacturer titles in both 2006 &07 andwas runner up in the World Rally Championship four times behind Sebastian Loeb. 
             He retired from the World Rally Championship scene in 2014 after taking fifteen career victories in the series. In recent years he has competed on rally raids, most notably the Paris-Dakar Rally. Mikko has some Irish tarmac experience having competed on Rally Ireland twice in 2007 &09 as well as the Cork 20 Rally in 2007 which was used as a warm up for Irelands WRC round that year. Cork Motor Club are also delighted to announce a media partnership with two of the biggest brands in Cork, C103 Radio and the Southern Star newspaper.
​Both C103 and the Southern Star have given great coverage to the event over the years and this deal will strengthen the links between the rally and local media. Entries will open for this year’s rally on Friday 8th February and regulations will be available to download from that date onwww.westcorkrally.com and www.corkmotorclub.com. A rally guide for this year’s rally is already available from both of those sites. With the rally being the second round of both the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship and the British Rally Championship as well as the opening round of the PlasticBags.ie Southern 4 Rally Championship there is a lot of interest, and any accommodation queries should be directed to [email protected].

Report in Association with Club Sponsor 
Premier Auto Parts Midleton
1a, Rosehill Industrial Estate, Balinacurra, Midleton, Co. Cork
(021) 463 4012