Impressive entry for Abbey Hotel Ballyvourney Moonraker Forest Rally

Well most of the work is done but there is one final push to get the rally over the line, Munster Car Club is delighted with both the quality and quantity of entry for Round 2 of the Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship 2023.

Seventeen R5 cars are down to start the event, seeded no one is round 1 winner in Kerry and Championship Leader Mark Donnelly feeling confident after round 1 it will be up to the rest to put it up to Mark in the Fiesta.At 2 is the very quick Vivian Hamill in what many regard as the best R5 car the Polo,at 3 Jordan Hone is a hugely talented driver and will battle for the lead, at four and five are the Citroens of Conor McCourt and Owen Murphy. Conor will be hoping for a top 3 place while Owen being a 3 time winner will battle against a lack of time in the car and his first gravel event in the Citroen, Stephen McCann at 6 will be pushing hard while for most the man to watch will be Ryan Caldwell in the Skoda Fabia seeded 7 he is one of the young stars of Irish Motorsport and after a second in Round 1 will be going for the win this time out ,at 8 is Pat O Connell probably needs more time in the car but always had pace,at 9 David Condell gets quicker every day out while at 10 and 11 are the EVOs of Peter McCullagh  and Derek Mackarel  who will frighten some of the R5 cars.

In the two wheel drive category the battle will be between the Escorts of Mickey Conlon, Hugh McQuaid and Steven Corey, but the man to watch will be Shane McGirr in his unique Lada- expect the battle to be intense. The battle in all the classes will be red hot but none more so that in the J1000 class where the young rally stars of tomorrow will be making their mark. The battle for the lead should be between Tommy Moffett, Jack Kennedy, Jack Harris and Ross Ryan, biting at their heels will be Tommy Cronin, Danny Brady, Cameron Crozier and Patrick Gahan.

Speaking with Clerk of the Course Emmet Cronin , he said ”it’s a super entry and I would like to thank the team at Munster Car Club for their support we put in a big effort over the past few months and we certainly got the entry ,As Clerk of the Course I would like to welcome competitors spectators and every one to Round 2 of the Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship 2023 and our friends at The South East Stages Rally Championship for Round 1 of their Championship ,I would appeal to spectators  to obey the marshals and view from safe vantage points , buy a programme support the rally plan your day, it’s a long day so there are some good viewing points out there easily got and there is plenty of time to see stages respect other road users and drive with care.  Our Rally HQ is once again our title sponsor and I would like to thank Michael and his team at the Abbey Hotel for their support don’t forget to call in over the weekend.”