Gravel Fever as MIJRS heads to Tipp Forest Rally

With a forecast of scorching sunshine and blue skies hopefully lasting until Sunday, we can be assured though that the action in the 2025 Motorsport Ireland Junior Rally Series (MIJRS) will be red hot as we head to the ultra-fast gravel tracks of the Sean Conlon Tipperary Forest Rally and for some crews we see the battles rage on the loose for the first time all year.

A dual surface series designed to develop the future stars of Irish Rallying, the MIJRS sees competitors tackle a mixed calendar of events, with the Tarmac roads of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship interspersed with the loose and flowing Gravel tracks of the Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship.

With the support of the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy, the winners of Class 2 and 2A will each bag prize funding to the value of €10,000 towards their development in 2026 as well as a coveted nomination for the Billy Coleman Award shortlist, a life changing prize claimed in 2024 by MIJRS winner Craig Rahill who this weekend competes in Hungary on the second round of the European Rally Championship.

Having begun the season with a pair of Tarmac rounds in the Midland Stages and Circuit of Kerry rallies, its Jack Harris who holds a slender three-point advantage in Class 2 heading to Mitchelstown for this weekend's event. After an impressive victory last time out, Harris will be looking to really make a mark on the MIJRS series and build on his Class 2A win in 2024. His nearest rival in the standings is Tommy Moffett, the pair both competing in Ford Fiesta Rally4’s would feel a lot more comfortable on the loose having risen through the J1000 ranks, so the battle is likely to be tooth and nail over the six stages.

Two more stars really aiming to make a mark this weekend are Cian Caldwell and Ben McFall. Caldwell, a previous MIJRS winner, took victory on the opening round of the year, and has impressed in the Forest Championship aswell where he leads his class and sits 3rd overall in the 2WD standings in his Peugeot 208 Rally4 so he will have form heading to Tipperary Forest, while last year’s Northern Ireland Junior Champion Ben McFall has shown incredible pace since his switch to a Rally4 Fiesta, and fell agonisingly short of winning Class 2 on the Circuit of Kerry last time out.

For Oran England, Jack Byrne & Robert Cronin, this weekend will be an exciting opportunity to really get a feeling for a whole new surface. England, the former Karting star, and Byrne, the Circuit Racer, have only a single gravel rally event between them so it will be a thrilling watch to see how the pair deal with a whole new feeling in a car, while Robert Cronin is slightly more experienced on the surface but lacks the gravel expertise of some of his rivals.

In Class 2A, it’s been the Jack Kennedy show so far in 2025, with a pair of victories clocked up by the Wexford ace in his Ford Fiesta R2T. Having claimed a gravel win in the class in 2024 and with a year’s learning in the car already, all eyes will be on the youngster. His closest rival this year has been Darragh Kelly, with the Peugeot 208 R2 finishing second to Kennedy on both occasions.

The keenest look of all will be from Ross Ryan, the results from the first two rounds belied the serious pace seen throughout, and a hard fought Class 2A victory on the last round of the Irish Forest Rally Championship is a huge boost for the ever quick star who this year makes the step up from J1000, similarly to rival Tommy Furlong who competes in a similar Ford Fiesta and returns to his most familiar surface.

The J1000 field sees thirty cars on the entry, with class leader David Travers aiming to make it a trio of victories having tasted success on both the Carlow & Moonraker Forest Rallies. Kyle Drury has kept within just a handful of seconds of Travers all year and Jack McDermott has impressed in third, with the leading trio now having opened a bit of a gap to the rest of the field. That being said, that chasing pack includes quite a number of youngsters that have had unfortunate retirements on the last two rounds, so expect there to be fireworks at the head of the J1000 field.

The action on the 2025 Sean Conlon Tipperary Forest Rally kicks off on Sunday morning with the first car due to head towards the opening of six special stages at 9am, with a mid-day halt in the Mitchelstown Business Park.

Full Information on the MIJRS and all the latest points standings can be found here at www.MIJRS.ie