2024 Irish Forest Rally Championship

2023 J1000 Champion Moffett visits Norwegian Winter Rally School

Posted: January 30, 2024 9:12 AM

On a frozen lake on the outskirts of Dagali in Norway, a blue flash weaves through the snowbanks as a Nissan Almera GTi scrabbles for grip. Behind the wheel is 2023 Sligo Pallets Forest Championship Junior 1000 Champion Tommy Moffett, and he is here as part of a Prize Package funded by Craig Breen and the Foundation named in his honour.

For the young star, the trip is one of learning and development, with two days spent under the guidance of rally legend John Haugland at his world-famous Winter Rally School. Over his 50-year career, the Norwegian ace has seen countless stars of the sport pass through his Rally School, and Tommy Moffett can now proudly add himself to the illustrious list of pupils.

One of the most famous recent stars who spent time at Haugland's winter playground was Craig Breen, and it was through the prize package that he self-funded at the start of the 2023 season. Determined to make a real impact on the development of future Rally stars from a young age, Craig put together a €10,000 fund that would see every competitor benefit by way of vouchers throughout the season, and ultimately a driver development trip for the series champion.

The Craig Breen Foundation aims to continue and build on the good work started by Craig in developing the path into top level rallying for young Irish competitors, while honouring his memory. With the support of Hyundai Motorsport, Sports & You, Hyundai Portugal, Hyundai Spain, Motorsport Ireland and the FIA, the foundation has committed to support the J1000 Championship for a minimum 5-year period from 2024 onwards.

The foundation will initially see a total prize fund valued at over €35,000 made available for the 2024 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship J1000's. This includes:

•Prizes to the value of €1,000 per round for each round of the Championship
•€16,000 in support toward 2025 rally events for the top 3 placed drivers in the Championship (€5,000 to the winner and €3,000 each to the second and third placed drivers)
•A funded drive on a round of the 2024 or 2025 Spanish/Portuguese Hyundai i20 Cup with the Sports & You team for the Championship winner (age dependant)
•1 day rally tuition at John Haughland Winter Rally School shared between first and second place drivers in the Championship
•1 days pacenote tuition from Paul Nagle for the top 3 placed drivers in the Championship

The funded drive in the 2024/2025 season with the Sports&You team, owned by Craig’s friend Zé Pedro Fontes, is the same team that Craig contested the Portuguese Rally Championship with in 2023. This prize comes with the support of Hyundai Portugal and Hyundai Spain.

This year’s winner, Tommy Moffett, was joined on the trip by his championship winning navigator Domhnall Lennon, as well as Tommy's Brother and twice Irish Forest Rally Champion Josh Moffett. With the guidance of John Haugland, Domhnall & Josh, the trip was an incredible opportunity for Tommy to adapt to a more powerful FWD car as he prepares to make the step into a new machine this year, as well as to an all new surface.

From the reports received back, the trip was a huge success with incredible amounts of seat time and practice put down, some great tuition from the legendary John Haugland and the only reported damage being from the elder Moffett leaving a Mitsubishi rear bumper in a snow bank (allegedly)! The 2024 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship kicks off on February 18th with the Castleisland, Co. Kerry based Killarney Forest Rally.

Sportity

Posted: January 30, 2024 9:09 AM

Championship Registration Open

Posted: January 23, 2024 8:41 AM

A look at the incredibly successful J1000 Technical Day in Mondello Park.

Posted: January 23, 2024 8:40 AM

J1000 Technical Day introduced

Posted: January 11, 2024 2:29 PM

Sligo Pallets Announce 2-Year Sponsorship of Forest Rally Championship

Posted: January 8, 2024 6:47 AM

The Irish Forest Rally Championship are absolutely delighted to announce that Sligo Pallets Limited have come on board for the next two seasons and remain as title sponsors for the series through to 2025. Having them on board for 2023 was an incredible development for the Championship, and we are sure the benefit of this relationship will continue to be felt positively throughout the years ahead.

Sligo Pallets owner Andrew Mullen is a passionate supporter of Irish Rallying, having become the title sponsor of the Border Tarmac Rally Championship in 2011, and this relationship remains as strong as ever as the Sligo Pallets branding will be seen on both sealed and loose surface events in 2024 and into the future.

With over two decades of experience, the team at Sligo Pallets are experts when it comes to the supply and manufacturing of pallets. The over twenty strong workforce on site pride themselves on maintaining the highest quality of stock, necessary in supplying new and used pallets to suit a range of different businesses and industries. The expertise within Sligo Pallets guarantees a 24-48 hour turnaround service, delivering pallets from their Sligo HQ all around Ireland.

Speaking at the announcement of the continued partnership at the recent Championship Awards Night, Andrew Mullen said “This is an exciting opportunity to continue being involved with a really exciting Championship, with a great calendar of events right across Ireland. The Sligo Pallets team are delighted to be involved and continue our support of the series”.

“Having been on board as Title Sponsor in 2023 which was a great opportunity to bring our brand to the fore and create a strong relationship with the Irish Forest Rally Championship, we felt that it was a great series to remain a part of for the next two years. It’s an exciting opportunity as the Championship grows to support younger talent in the sport”.

The presence of Sligo Pallets branding became easy recognisable throughout last season, and this is set to increase going into 2024 with an increase in Social Media activity around the events this year, including live interviews, highlight videos and a recently launched website for the series (www.irlforestrally.com).

The 2024 Sligo Pallets Irish Forest Rally Championship will kick off on February 18th in Castleisland, Co. Kerry with the Killarney Forest Rally, the first of six high speed loose surface events pencilled in for this season that will see events both North and South of the Border.

With the Championship events taking place amongst Forestry and off-road venues, we as a series rely heavily upon the support of Coillte, Private Landowners and Motorsport Ireland, and we are extremely grateful for their continued support and the incredibly strong working relationships forged over years that are vital in allowing our events to succeed and the sport of Gravel Rallying to flourish in this country.

Championship Rounds / New Championship Website

Posted: January 8, 2024 6:43 AM

1. Killarney Forestry Rally - 18 Feb 24
2. Carrick On Suir Willie Loughman Forestry Rally - 14 Apr 24
3. Cork Forestry Rally - 11 Aug 24
4. EMC Lakeland Stages - (Sat) 7 Sep 24
5. Omagh (Ni) Bushwhacker Forestry Rally - (Sat) 21 Sep 24
6. Clare Forestry Rally - (Sat) 5 Oct 24

Forest Championship Website