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The Motorsport Ireland Junior Rally Series (MIJRS) is an initiative to promote and assist junior competitors focused on developing their motorsport future, with the dual-surface Junior Series supported by the MI Rally Academy and acting as a pathway into National & International Competition for young drivers across a number of categories.
Having listened to competitors opinions and conscious of the costs involved in progressing within the sport, 2024 will see Motorsport Ireland introduce a new class structure splitting brand new Rally4 machinery from older R2 & R2T examples, and as such the MIJRS has followed suit and will now incorporate separate classes for both.
Class 2 – Rally4 will be home of the latest cutting edge FWD rally cars from the likes of Peugeot Sport & M-Sport Ford, and in the combined standings in recent years these have been the dominant force. 2023’s MIJRS battle ultimately came down to a final day dual between Dylan Eves & Cian Caldwell in Clare, with the title going to Caldwell following a disappointing mechanical retirement for his great rival.
Class 2A – R2/R2T is a budget friendly step designed to aid with the development of younger drivers by incentivising the opportunity afforded by older and more budget friendly machinery in the market. Don’t for a second doubt the pace of these cars though, as both Kyle McBride and Aoife Raftery proved in 2023 clocking up some remarkable results in Ford Fiesta R2s!
For 2024, the MIJRS Rally 4 and R2/R2T Class prize structures are as follows;
1st Overall Driver
•          Nomination for The Billy Coleman Award Shortlist
•          Winner’s Trophy
•          Training, coaching and support up to the value of €10,000 as part of the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy the following year.
2nd Overall Driver
•          Trophy
•          Support up to the value of €7,000.
3rd Overall Driver
•          Trophy
•          Support up to the value of €5,000.
Standings are calculated by getting a maximum score consisting of each competitor’s best performance in 6 out of 8 events across the year, these being the 3 best Gravel results and 3 best Tar results. The Driver must be under 23 years of age on the 1st of January in the year of the award.
The 2024 season kicks off in Castleisland with the Killarney Forest Rally, the first of four loose surface events within the Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship which are interspersed with four tarmac rounds within the Triton Showers National Rally Championship.
Date | Event | Surface |
18-Feb | Killarney Forest Rally | Gravel |
03-Mar | Mayo Stages | Tar |
13-Apr | Carrick On Suir Forest Rally | Gravel |
19-May | Carlow Stages | Tar |
14-Jul | Tipperary Stonethrowers Rally | Tar |
11-Aug | Cork Forest Rally | Gravel |
01-Sep | Galway Summer | Tar |
06-Oct | Clare Forest Rally | Gravel |
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The Series Coordinator is John Quill
+353 87 929 9590
The Series Registrar is Elaine Shinnors
+353 87 822 1067