The rally begins on Thursday evening with a super special stage at Stormont, Northern Ireland's Parliament buildings in Belfast.

The opening day is the longest and is based entirely in the Republic, taking in fast moorland and mountain roads east of Sligo The second leg's stages cover narrow farm roads in the Fermanagh lakelands, across the border in Northern Ireland. The final day includes both countries, ending with a picture postcard test on the coast at Mullaghmore, which will be covered live on television, before the afternoon finish in Sligo.

Drivers face 20 stages covering 342.34km in a total route of 1196.25km. Of the 14 stage locations, six are in Northern Ireland and eight in the Republic.


Last year:

The Rally Ireland was not apart of the FIA World Rally Championship in 2006. The 'candidate' event though was won by Irish tarmac champion, Eugene Donnelly.

Donnelly took the victory by nearly two minutes in his Toyota Corolla WRC, after Gareth MacHale, who had led early on and who had only lost the lead on the final stage on Saturday, went off the road on stage eight.

Eamon Boland took the runners-up spot, while Daniel Carlsson battled his way from sixth to third on day two, passing Subaru World Rally team works driver, Chris Atkinson, in the penultimate test. Patrick Elliott and Aaron MacHale rounded out the top six.