Rothmans Circuit of Ireland Rally 1987: Jimmy McRae wins in the new Group A era

In the immediate aftermath of the banning of Group B the 1987 Circuit would undergo a radical shift from being a five day event to a three day one.

FISA, the governing body, had imposed that the rally be a 200 mile event and the Group B (only permitted to be two wheel drive and have no more than 300bhp) cars would have to run at the back of the field in a national rally covering 80% of the route.

Jimmy McRae would be starting the rally in a new Ford Sierra Cosworth as RED ditched plans to continue with a Lancia Delta HF in the Open series. Mark Lovell would be in a MLP Sierra Cosworth for the first time, while Russell Brookes was restricted to the new 2 litre Kadett GSI along with Andrew Wood. Pentti Airikkala opted to use his Manta in the national event but could only score a maximum of eight points compared to twenty for the overall winner, he felt he wouldn't get more using the Kadett. Llewellin and Lindholm were in the Audi Sport UK Coupe's but the big interest was in the Prodrive entry.

Prodrive had entered a pair of Rothmans backed BMW M3's for Billy Coleman and Belgian Marc Duez. The cars looked beautiful but the question in the lead up to the rally was would they be suited to Irish tar.

The new Group A regulations threw a few surprises in the entry such as Austin McHale in an Opel Monza GSI and Kenny McKinstry in a very standard looking Volvo 240.

Coleman's M3 ended up doing course car as retired on SS2 with engine management problems:

Rothmans Circuit of Ireland Rally 1987: Jimmy McRae wins in the new Group A era