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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.
The importance of the Rally5 route in the development paths of high-level drivers was clear to see this year, with 2023 Billy Coleman Award Winner Jack Brennan spending the year behind the wheel of the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy backed Renault Clio Rally5 having moved up from J1000, and the learning in that season has made his jump to Rally4 for 2024 a lot easier.
Countless other stars of the sport have emerged from the Junior Class 16 category of the sport, and J1600 still plays a major role in the sport as it allows competitors to develop before potentially entering the Homologated Car pyramid. Last season, Jack McKenna was the standout star in this class, impressing many with times being set on what were some of his first ventures in Forestry and loose surface rallying as part of the MIJRS dual elements.
This season will see Junior 1600 (Class 16) & Rally5 (Class 1) be combined into a single MIJRS Class, allowing competitors the opportunity to choose between two budget friendly options to compete with, either a factory built Rally5 machine such as the Ford Fiesta or Renault Clio, or a homebuilt challenger built to current Junior specs such as a Honda Civic, Peugeot 106 or others.
For 2024, the MIJRS J1600/Rally5 Class prize structure is 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