Organisers of May’s Manx National Rally say they have been ‘bowled over’ after receiving more than 180 entries for the event since they opened on Monday evening.

Speaking on behalf of Manx Auto Sport, Mark Ellison said: ‘We're absolutely delighted with the response.

‘We can start a maximum of 170 cars. Previous experience suggests that there will be some dropouts and so we expect everyone who has entered so far will get to start the rally.

‘In fact, we would encourage anyone who has not yet entered to still place an entry, as we may well have spaces available nearer to the event.’

The event, which has returned to its traditional May 8-9 date this year having being held in April in 2025, will be based at Andreas Airfield for the first time and cover 137 stage miles across the island over the course of the weekend.

Organisers say each of the five championships that are part of this year's event are extremely well supported as competitors have entered for the Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship, Fuchs Lubricants Motorsport UK British Historic Rally Championship, Manx Auto Sport Championship, Roger Albert Clark Historic Asphalt Rally Championship and the ANWCC Stage Rally Championship.

Entries have arrived from across the UK and Ireland and from as far afield as Japan for the popular pair of Minis for Shinobu Kitani and Osamu Sumida.

The huge level of interest in the rally is further evidenced by the fact that the stage maps have been viewed more than 62,000 times since they were added to the Manx Auto Sport website last week.