2026 MIJRS Calendar Launched

After a remarkable season of high-level competition and brilliant battles that were celebrated last Saturday night with the annual Prizegiving, the Motorsport Ireland Junior Rally Series team are excited to announce an exciting new calendar for the 2026 season, introducing a host of changes to ensure that the MIJRS remains the ultimate development series in Irish Rallying.

Backed once again by the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy who will provide a prize package of financial supports to the top three competitors in each class, the MIJRS also opens the door to the Billy Coleman Award with the winners of Class 2 & 2A receiving guaranteed Shortlist Nominations.

Class 2 & 2A

An eight-round calendar of events across the Irish Forest Rally Championship and the Irish National Rally Championship will see competitors (Under 24 years of age on January 1^st 2026) compete on both surfaces, with a minimum of two starts required on each surface to qualify for final standings.

The season begins on Gravel with the Sligo based Connacht Forest Rally on February 15^th, before switching back to Tarmac for the Birr Stages Rally on March 29^th. It’s a similar pattern with the Moonraker Forest Rally up next on April 18^th, before the Carlow Stages Rally on May 17^th closes out the first half of the year.

After a short break, the MIJRS Class 2 & 2A battle resumes with the two-day Willie Loughman Carrick-on-Suir Forest Rally on June 27 & 28th, which for MIJRS standings will be counted as a single round, and we stick on Gravel with the Jim Walsh Cork Forest Rally on August 9^th. After this, the season concludes with a pair of exciting Tarmac rounds with the Galway Summer Rally on August 23^rd and the Donegal Harvest Rally on October 30^th.

As in recent seasons, point scoring in Class 2 & 2A will be done on the basis of a competitors Best 3 Scores on Gravel plus Best 3 Scores on Tarmac.

J1000

The most significant change in the 2026 MIJRS series is in Junior 1000, where for the very first time we introduce Hillclimb events for competitors to add a true dual surface element to proceedings, as well as allowing for competitors to compete on both Christmas period Sprint events to kick off the season, removing the either/or element of the previous campaign.

The 2026 Championship kicks off with the Carlow Rallysprint in Mondello Park on December 27^th, followed by the Cork Motor Club Boggeragh Sprint on December 29^th. The third and final gravel sprint of the season is the Imokilly Rallysprint on July 11^th. The 2026 Calendar sees the introduction of two Hillclimb dates, with MIJRS point scoring rounds on the Limerick Hillclimb on March 22^nd and the Donegal Knockalla Hillclimb on September 6^th.

Besides the sprint and tarmac events, the 2026 MIJRS J1000 calendar takes in five rounds of the Irish Forest Rally Championship, kicking off with the Connacht Forest Rally on February 15^th, Moonraker Forest Rally on April 18^th, the two-day Willie Loughman Carrick-on-Suir Forest Rally on June 27 & 28th, which for MIJRS standings will be counted as a single round, Jim Walsh Cork Forest Rally on August 9^th before the season ending Laois Forest Rally on October 4^th.

For means of point scoring, a competitor’s total will be calculated on a the Best 4 Scores on Forest Rallies, Best 2 Scores on Tarmac plus Best Gravel Sprint score. To be eligible for an award at the season end, a competitor must start a minimum of five Gravel Events (Forest Rally or Gravel Sprint) and two Tarmac Events (Carlow Rallysprint or Hillclimb).

Registration for the 2026 MIJRS is now open here on www.MIJRS.ie. Full Championship Regs can be found in Appendix 36 of the Motorsport Ireland Yearbook or on the MIJRS website under the ‘Documents’ heading.