Rally Ireland: The World Rally Championship returns to these shores in 2009 when Rally Ireland is afforded the honour of launching the prestigious 12-round global series event.
Today's announcement by the FIA World Motorsport Council in Monaco comes less than one month since Rally Ireland made its hugely successful debut in the Series. A spectacular opeing took place at Stormont Buildings in Belfast before concluding in Sligo after three days of high drama.
This year's event was broadcast in 180 countries and was Ireland's largest sporting event of the year with up to 200,000 spectators and 3,000 volunteers. The provisional date Rally Ireland 2009 is Thursday, January 29th to Sunday, February 1st.
Rally Ireland 2007 was sponsored by Fáilte Ireland and Sport Northern Ireland and was recognised as an economic success with the island of Ireland benefiting by up to €50million.
"We are honoured Ireland has been awarded the most prestigious position in the 2009 WRC series and this is a direct result of the hard work by the thousands of volunteers who worked on our event, our fantastic fans and the outstanding levels of political support we have received since we started the project," said Rally Ireland founders Sean O'Connor and Ronan Morgan following today's decision by the FIA.
"The residents of each stage must also be commended for their co-operation and support in making Rally Ireland the huge success it was."
Rally Ireland ran across eight counties, north and south of the border, opening with a Super Special Stage in Stormont and concluding with an exciting Special Stage on Sligo's Atlantic coast at Mullaghmore.
It received widespread political support and the 2009 event will also be a cross-border initiative taking place in the same region.