There’s been an early flood of entries for April’s Proflect Manx Rally.

Organisers Manx Auto Sport have said they received an influx of entries after they opened on Sunday evening.

By first thing Monday morning, a total of 143 had been placed for the April 11-12 event, taking it beyond the rally’s capacity of 140. But organisers are keen to stress that there is likely to be room for more competitors.

A Manx Auto Sport spokesperson said: ‘Although the event’s entry capacity is 140 cars, it is an accepted fact of rallying that some of the entries placed so far will be withdrawn between now and the event so there is likely to be space for more entries.

‘The standard entry fee is available until the end of February. However, the overwhelming response is another indication of the popularity of this classic closed-road rally and rallying in the Isle of Man.

‘Significantly, contenders in the Protyre Asphalt Rally Championship make up almost half of the entries, with a good number also from the Manx Rally Championship.

‘The quality of the entry matches the quantity and, to date, more than 20 R5 and Rally2 cars are entered along with a wide array of cars across all of the classes.’

The event, which has been moved from its traditional May date for the first time this year, will include 18 special stages and 120 competitive miles.

When the date change was announced organisers said it had been made at the behest of the Isle of Man Government to slot the rally into an already crowded events calendar.

The Manx Rally dates back 60 years and is one of the UK’s longest established closed-road special stage rallies.