Decision to be made on Irish venue for World Rally Championships

Three Irish venues will present their bids to host the World Rally Championships (WRC) over the next three years to officials from the WRC and Motorsport Ireland. 

Limerick, Tralee and Waterford will all present their proposals to representatives over the coming days. Hosting the event could be worth more than €100 million to the local economy per year and would also highlight the areas to an estimated worldwide audience of over 100 million people.

The staging of a full WRC rally in 2025 is dependent on Government funding, and Motorsport Ireland is seeking in the region of €12m in government funding for a three-year deal to bring the event to Ireland.

The Patrickswell at the Limerick race course has been put forward by the Limerick Motor Club in association with the Shannon Region Conference and Sports Bureau as the base location for the prestigious international event which is returning to Ireland for the first time since 2009.

If successful, Limerick Racecourse would be transformed into a 10,000 square meter service park and international media center as well as the WRC fan zone for the duration of the competition. 

For Kerry's bid, Tralee has been identified as the perfect location for the rally according to the local bid team and the Munster Technology University North Campus has been pin-pointed as an ideal location to host the event.

If Waterford is successful they will host the World Rally Championships in an amalgamated south-east representation based out of Waterford City.

More than 250,000 spectators are expected to travel from overseas to Ireland for the event