Circuit of Ireland organisers have named Belfast as a key host of the 2014 Circuit of Ireland Rally with the ceremonial start and finish of the rally taking place in the city.<\/p>\n
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The Rally HQ and Service Park will be located in Belfast\u2019s Titanic Quarter welcoming over 1000 competitors and team personnel over a four- day period next Easter.<\/p>\n
The first tarmac rally on the 12-strong European Rally Championship calendar, the Circuit of Ireland gets into gear on Thursday 17th April with a ceremonial start in central Belfast.\u00a0 The two day rally then kicks off on Friday 18th April with the course set to cover more than 230 competitive kilometres taking in stages in Belfast and counties Down and Antrim. The rally will finish back in Belfast on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n
Billed as a \u2018legendary\u2019 event\u00a0 by ERC organisers, Eurosport Events who will\u00a0 broadcast the race, the Circuit is expected to attract more than 10 million viewers globally as well as thousands of spectators and team officials who will travel to Northern\u00a0 Ireland .\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s anticipated the event will generate over \u00a31 million for the local economy.<\/p>\n
Belfast City Council is a key partner of the Circuit of Ireland and Lord Mayor, Councillor M\u00e1irt\u00edn \u00d3 Muilleoir said:\u201cIt\u2019s fantastic to welcome another high profile sporting event to the city. Belfast is continuing to grow in stature as one of the world\u2019s premier sporting venues. We hosted the World Police and Fire Games in the summer of 2013 attracting visitors from all corners of the globe. With the circuit of Ireland on its way as well as the Giro d \u2018Italia, 2014 looks set to be another bumper year for sport and attracting increased tourism to Belfast.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thanking Belfast City Council for its support, Circuit of Ireland Event Director Bobby Willis said:\u00a0 \u201cThere are very few rallies in the world that get the opportunity to base themselves in a capital city. The support and interest from Belfast has been overwhelming.\u00a0 The event will generate major economic and tourism benefits for the city, both in terms of visitor numbers and in positive television images, which will be broadcast around the world through Eurosport. \u00a0The Circuit of Ireland has been hailed as a \u2018flagship event\u2019 among the 12 rallies of the European Rally Championship so I\u2019m sure Belfast is set to feature as a highlight in this top international series.\u201d<\/p>\n
Early next year Circuit organisers will announce further details on the rally route and stages.<\/p>\n
For up to date information on the 2014 Circuit of Ireland visit http:\/\/www.circuitofireland.net\/<\/p>\n
Follow on Facebook .com\/circuitofireland\u00a0 or twitter @CircuitIreland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Circuit of Ireland organisers have named Belfast as a key host of the 2014 Circuit of Ireland Rally with the ceremonial start and finish of the rally taking place in the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":6852,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n