Irish Forest Rally Championship: Round 5 Preview
Posted: September 1, 2023 10:26 AM
Things are about to shift up a gear in the hunt for the 2023 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship title, as the leading contenders head north of the border for the incredibly popular Lakelands Stages Rally.
Based in Enniskillen, the Co. Fermanagh gravel classic returns to the Championship this year following a four-year absence, and excitement has been building for quite some time. Over six stage and 58km of high-speed action, a whole new chapter in the 2023 Season is set to be written.
At the head of the field, all eyes will be focused firmly on the Championships pair of star crews who have dominated things this year. Mark Donnelly & Sean Ferris were the quickest out of the blocks, winning back-to-back in Killarney and Tipperary, but the next two events would go to his biggest rivals Ryan Caldwell & Arthur Kierans as they tasted victory on the Moonraker and Cork Forest rallies.
Heading to Round 5, just a single point separates the pair with Caldwell holding the slimmest of leads. Donnelly has recently moved into a VW Polo GTi R5 which debuted in Cork, and he will be aiming to be up to speed to challenge the Motorsport Ireland Academy supported Caldwell in his Skoda Fabia R5.
Sharing space under the R317 Motorsport awning with Caldwell this weekend will be top seed and 2022 Forest Rally Champions Patrick & Stephen O’Brien. Having competed at both European and World Championship levels so far this year, the Lakelands is an opportunity for one of the brightest talents in Irish Rallying to get some all-important seat-time while still gauging his sharpness against the newest breed of talent within the series.
2019 Champion Cathan McCourt returns alongside Liam Moynihan and are seeded at number two in their Ford Fiesta R5, while a lot of eyes will be focused firmly on the times set by Jason Mitchell & Patrick McCrudden in their Volkswagen as they aim to build on a remarkable 2nd place finish in Cork on Round 4 as well as a victory last week on the non-Championship Davagh Stages.
In the 2WD section, it’s set for yet another titanic battle across the forest lanes for the Ford Escort pair of Mickey Conlon & Paul McPhillips and Hugh McQuaid & Declan Casey, while local favourite Shane McGirr & Ben Teggart have returned to the familiar surrounds of their Toyota Starlet as the crowd-pleasing Lada is out of action.
Chasing the leading 2wd trio will be Ruairi Maguire & Grace O’Brien who finished on the podium last time out on Round 4, while Donall Sweeney & Oisin Joyce have been setting good times on Tarmac this year but have converted their Toyota Corolla AE86 to gravel spec for a blast around the Lakelands stages, while late entrants Adrian Hetherington & Ronan O’Neill will most definitely be out to put on a show.
The Lakeland Stages Rally, the fifth round of the 2023 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship kicks off Saturday morning with the crews tackling the opening 5.7km Belmore stage at 10.56 before heading onto the mammoth Ballintempo stage and finishing the loop at Carrigan.
Seeded Entry List
Posted: August 29, 2023 3:02 AM
1 Patrick O'Brien/Stephen O'Brien (Skoda Fabia R5) [11]
2 Cathan McCourt/Liam Moynihan (Ford Fiesta Rally2) [11]
3 Ryan Caldwell/Arthur Kierans (Skoda Fabia R5) [10]
4 Mark Donnelly/Sean Ferris (VW Polo GTI R5) [10]
5 Jason Mitchell/Paddy McCrudden (VW Polo GTI R5) [11]
6 Jonny Leonard/Niall Burns (Ford Fiesta R5) [11]
7 Conor McCourt/Caolan McKenna (Citroen C3 Rally2) [11]
8 Niall McGonigle/Tba Tba (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) [11]
9 David Condell/Michael Coady (Ford Fiesta R5) [10]
10 Martin Cairns/Peter Ward (Ford Fiesta R5) [11]
11 Niall Devine/John McCay (Ford Fiesta R5) [10]
12 Derek Mackarel/Darran Curran (Ford Fiesta R5) [10]
14 Paul Britton/John McElhinney (Suburu Impreza n16) [8]
15 Paul McCann/Mark Murphy (Ford Fiesta R5) [10]
16 Peter McCullagh/Killian McArdle (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) [9]
17 David Kelly/Dean O'Sullivan (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) [8]
18 James McCarville/Conal McNulty (Ford Fiesta R5) [10]
19 Darren McKelvey/Tba Tba (Ford Fiesta R5) [10]
20 Mickey Conlon/Paul McPhillips (Ford Escort Mk2) [7]
21 Shane McGirr/Ben Teggart (Toyota Starlet) [6]
22 Hugh McQuaid/Declan Casey (Ford Escort MK2 RS1800) [6]
23 Donall Sweeney/Oisin Joyce (Toyota Corolla AE86) [6]
24 Robert McKelvey/Declan Campbell (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8) [8]
25 Lukasz Czapnik/Piotr Szadkowski (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) [8]
26 Owen Mallon/Shaun Scullion (Ford Fiesta R5) [10]
27 Damian O'Hagan/Shane O'Hagan (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) [9]
28 Patsy Keenan/Martin Brady (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) [2A]
29 Ruairi Maguire/Grace O'Brien (Vauxhall Corsa) [4]
30 Jody McManus/Marc Johnston (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6) [8]
31 Colum McBride/Tba Tba (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) [8]
32 Dominic Leonard/Martin Baxter (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8) [8]
33 Conor Wilson/Sean Marsh (Ford Fiesta) [2A]
34 Damien McGauran/Shane Maguire (BMW 320) [6]
35 Dean Humphrey/Stephen Reynolds (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8) [9]
36 Gary Johnston/Dermot Brewster (Ford Escort) [7]
37 Mike O'Connor Jr/Barry Attridge (Opel Manta) [6]
38 Paddy McToal/Connor O'Loan (Ford Escort) [6]
39 Andy Magee/Ashley Trimble (Ford Escort) [5]
40 Fintan McGrady/Dean Beckett (Ford Escort MK2 RS1800) [1]
41 Jack McKenna/MacKierans (Honda Civic) [4]
43 Sam Stewart/Tba Tba (Ford Escort) [4]
44 Rodney Donaldson/Colin Kane (Ford Escort) [5]
45 Bob Riddles/David Riddles (Ford Escort Mk2) [6]
46 Tony McKenna/Karl Fallis (Ford Escort Mk2) [5]
47 Brian Little/Niall McCarron (Ford Escort G3) [5]
48 Liam McQuaid/Mervyn Galbraith (Ford Escort) [5]
49 Chrisy Corry/Dwayne McPhillips (Ford Fiesta) [2A]
50 Donal Connolly/Danny McLaughlin (Ford Escort) [5]
51 Sammy Scollan/Andy Heekin (Vauxhall Corsa) [3]
52 Colin Currid/Stephen McCaul (Ford Escort) [5]
53 Stephen Whitford/Jonny Hart (Nissan Micra Kit Car) [3]
54 Peter Dowds/Steven Dowds (Nissan Micra Kit Car) [3]
55 Raymond Mason/Paul Hone (Nissan Micra) [3]
56 Jack Shields/Ashley Boulton (Nissan Micra) [3]
57 Mark Stewart/Gareth Badger (Ford Escort Mk2) [5]
58 Keelan Maguire/Tony McGovern (Honda Civic) [4]
59 Padraig Egan/Tomas Ryan (Subaru Impreza N10) [8]
60 Damien Britton/Tbc Tbc (Subaru Impreza) [8]
61 Damien Quinn/Karl Smyth (Subaru Impreza) [8]
62 Daniel MacBride/Evan MacBride (Honda Civic) [4]
63 Craig Rahill/Conor Smith (Ford Fiesta) [2A]
64 Aaron Cunningham/Paul McGahon (Ford Escort) [6]
65 Kris Farrell/Wendy Blackledge (Proton Satria) [3]
66 Bryan Jardine/Tbc Tbc (Ford Escort) [1]
67 Eugene Ward/Eoin Colins (Ford Fiesta) [4]
68 Paul Maguire/Conor McGurren (Subaru Impreza) [8]
69 Jack Brunton/Brian Harkin (Toyota Starlet) [4]
70 Sean Foy/Clodagh McMorrow (Nissan Micra) [3]
71 Derek Crossen/Chris McSherry (Nissan Micra) [3]
72 Richard Thompson/Aidan Meehan (Vauxhall Astra) [6]
73 Michael McGarrity/Damian Garvey (Ford Fiesta R5) [11]
74 David Dennison/Gareth Lewthwaite (Vauxhall Corsa) [4]
75 Mark Moore/Martin McGarrity (Nissan Micra) [3]
76 Michael O'Donoghue/Danny Murphy (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) [8]
77 Adrian Hetherington/Ronan O’Neill (Ford Escort Mk2) [7]
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Posted: July 25, 2023 10:46 AM
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