Dakar Classic 2023
Former three-time winner of the modified section of the Rentokil Initial Killarney Historic Rally Dessie Keenan will return to Killarney this year for the first time since 2016.
The Monaghan man won the modified class for three years in a row between 2004 and 2006.
He contested three rallies this year in a newly built Ford Escort Mk2 and they were his only outings since finishing seventh on the 2016 Killarney Historic Rally.
The former Billy Coleman award winner has competed on a handful of rallies since his Historic rally hattrick but that includes an impressive third overall on the 2008 Rally of the Lakes in a hired Subaru Impreza World Rally Car.
He is looking forward to his return to Kerry for a rally after a family holiday in the area in August.
“Myself and Sharon brought the kids down in the summer, we drove up Moll’s Gap and climbed up the rocks. We just stood up there for a long time – it was class – watching the traffic when a motorcycle tour passed by. You could hear the revving of the engines off the rocks, – the noise out of them – and it really gave me the sensation that the spectators feel,” he said. “I am really looking forward to getting back down, The Gap three times will be interesting.”
Fellow Monaghan man and past Rally of the Lakes winner Sam Moffatt is also on the entry list as is his brother Josh who is making a rare appearance in a modified rally.
Gary McPhillips, a former podium finisher in the Killarney modified rally is also making a return.
Add in potential class winners like Raymond Conlon and Jono Doogan and the men from Farney County will certainly be out in force on December 2 and 3.
