Highway officials are confident that the island’s next major rally event will be safely and competently managed.

Organisers of the PokerStars rally say there are record entries for this year’s event which will be held on November 9 and 10.

The sport has come under the spotlight in recent months after Rally Isle of Man was cancelled at short notice, following safety concerns raised by the Department of Infrastructure.

Rally IoM organisers blamed ’insurmountable’ delays in securing the necessary road closure order.

But confidential debrief notes, released under Freedom of Information, show highways officers had raised serious concerns as far back as 2013.

Frustrated that documents and information were not supplied in good time for the 2018 event, they concluded Rally IoM was not ’competent to organise a safely run event’.

Following a request by the Examiner, the DoI has now released minutes of the debrief meeting for last year’s PokerStars Rally.

The meeting was held on December 12 last year and attended by officers from the DoI, Home Affairs and organisers Manx Autosport.

They show that no major issues were noted.

But the organisers flagged up a photo that was posted on social media of a young man contravening a road closure.

Astonishingly, he is pictured with his head poking up from a roadside ditch in Andreas, just inches from a rally car travelling at speed.

It was apparently done as a dare - and was universally condemned by the rally fraternity.

The debrief minutes note that the group discussed ’possible actions, including how to better control this and potential for retrospective enforcement’.

In a statement, the DoI said: ’MAS Ltd brought this issue to the debrief, where one of our colleagues from the Department of Home Affairs made the police aware. The young man was spoken to by the police.’

As a result of the incident, MAS introduced a new policy that drivers immediately report any infringements of prohibited areas to the radio point so that a stage can be stopped if necessary.

Risk assessment

The DoI said the organisers of the PokerStars Rally submitted their draft safety plan, risk assessment and traffic management plans in August 2018.

The documents were subsequently reviewed ’well in advance’ of the event.

It said: ’As all of the documents that the department must review have been submitted, the racing authorisation has been issued.’

The DoI said the same process applies to all rally organisers, with a timeline for submission of event safety documents, allowing time to review.

Following the events, they are audited and a debrief held with the organiser.

The DoI said: ’The department further reviews an organiser’s response to any such issues and the measures they put in place to improve future events.

’The DoI is keen to work positively with event organisers to ensure that the roads are handed over to competent organisations so that safely managed events can take place on closed public roads.’

Chief marshall, Mark Ellison, who is president of Manx Autosport, said: ’Safety is paramount - it’s the most important thing we do.

’If something is flagged up we will work on it and try to get it right.

’We are leaders in this and that’s recognised by the Motorsport Association and the Manx government.’

He added: ’This year’s PokerStars Rally is looking like it will be once again a huge success.

’Following last year’s best-ever entry of 84, this year’s has eclipsed that with the maximum 100 entries plus reserves.

Licences

’The licences for the event issued by the government and the MSA the motorsport’s governing body are now in place and all the key officials appointed.

Mr Ellison says they have had a good response from volunteers both on the island and from the UK but more are still needed.

He said: ’It has been very pleasing to see the rally fraternity getting together to assist us to ensure this event is the success it deserves.

’Rally IOM and Druidale committee members form part of the key officials on this Manx Autosport organised event.’

Those interested in being involved should contact Alison by calling 287178 or email [email protected]

Signing on is at the Royal in Ramsey on Tuesday November 6 and the TT Grandstand on the Wednesday and Thursday (November 7 and 8) from 5pm till 8.30pm.