NORTHERN IRELAND DRIVERS FOR M-SPORT

M-Sport have announced that, for the first time ever, their full-time WRC Rally1 crew line up for 2026 will be all-Irish! Northern Ireland drivers Josh McErlean from Kilrea and Jon Armstrong from Kesh will be joined by their respective co-drivers Eoin Treacy (Cork) and Shane Byrne (Donegal) in a pair of Ford Puma’s.

For McErlean this will be his second year at the top table. He and Tracey have had some success and some disappointing results in 2025. He will be expected to do better in 2026, having had experience all 14 rounds of the WRC. Of course M-Sport does not have ANYWHERE NEAR the budget of the two leading manufacturers Toyota or Hyundai. Malcolm Wilson’s team finished in a distant third place last year, once again, and will continue to struggle in 2026 without full support from Ford.

Armstrong, who replaces Gregoire Munster as a full-time driver, finished a close runner-up in the European Rally Championship last year for M-Sport in their Rally2 Fiesta and should be a perfect fit for the teams Rally1 set up.

Both Irish crews have been supported by the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy for the past number of years. John Coyne (now living in the USA)  former ITRC winner and now a very successful businessman, is the patron and the driving force behind the Academy. Coyne has been instrumental in negotiating this unique M-Sport deal.

The 2026 WRC gets underway this month in Monte Carlo. Leading the entries will be record 10-time winner, and current World Champion, Sebastien Ogier in his Toyota Yaris Rally1. Ogier is contesting 10 of the 14 rounds this year. Toyota’s full time drivers will be Elfyn Evans, Takamoto Katsuta, Sami Pajari and new-boy Oliver Solberg. Hyundai will have Thierry Neuville and Adrien Fourmaux full time plus Dani Sordo, Esapekka Lappi and Hayden Paddon sharing a third i20 Rally1 during the season.

For the M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 all-Irish team, the Monte Carlo Rally will be a challenging start to the championship. It will be in at the deep end for Jon Armstrong and Shane Byrne, but hopefully a successful return for Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy, who finished seventh here in 2025.

M-Sport may be on the bottom rung of the WRC Rally1 pyramid, but at least we here in Northern Ireland will have a good reason (apart from Tyrone’s Aaron Johnston co-driving Toyota’s Katsuta) to follow the 2026 World Rally Championship. It will be fascinating to watch the local lads progress over the  course of a 14 round series. Who will be top M-Sport driver of the year after the final round in Saudi Arabia come November? 

Lancia return to the World Rally Championship in 2026 for the first time since 1992. The Italian mark will enter WRC2 with its new Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale. Other teams starting in Monte Carlo should include M-Sport, Toyota and Skoda.

You can stream all 14 rounds of the 2026 WRC live on Rally.TV or on TNT Sports channels (if you can afford the subscriptions!) Alternatively, a one-hour highlights program of each round can be viewed for free on ITV4, unusual the week after each event.

REGULATION CHANGES COMING IN 2027

Next year’s World Rally Championship top-tier category will be known as WRC27 Rally1, and ready-to-rally cars will be “cost capped” at £302,000. The new concept cars will deliver approximately 300 bhp. To insure the top class is heavily populated, WRC27 Rally1 cars will be eligible to compete alongside existing Rally2 machines. Toyota are the only manufacturer said to be planning a WRC27 car at the present time. The new regulations will span a 10 year period.

RALLY DIARY 📔

Wed. 22nd-Sun. 25th January
RALLYE MONTE CARLO

• Round 1 of the 2026 World Rally Championship

Thur. 12th-Sun. 15th February
RALLY SWEDEN

• Round 2 of the 2026 World Rally Championship

Sat. 28th February
SAMSONAS RALLY FIVEMILETOWN

• Round 1 of the 2026 Brown & Brown Northern Ireland Forest Rally Challenge. Organised by Omagh Motor Club. More details next month. Our first stage rally of the year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL🎉🥳🎊

Hot Ulster; Hot Devine

He may have missed round one of the 2025 Irish Tarmac Championship in West Cork (to get married), but since then Callum Devine has dominated the series with 4 victories in succession. Wins in Killarney, Circuit of “Dungannon”, Donegal and now the Ulster Rally means the Claudy driver and his co-driver Noel O’Sullivan from Killarney have secured the ITRC with one round, the Cork “20” (4th-5th October) remaining. Job done!

In truth, Devine (the 2023 champion) has had little opposition since round three. 2024 champion Keith Cronin won in West Cork, but failed to appear after crashing out of the Rally of the Lakes in May. Although there were 35 top class Rally2 or R5 cars in Donegal, only 19 started the Ulster Rally.

The Ulster Rally is normally run in “challenging” late-summer weather conditions; Not this year! The 2025 event took place during a really hot and dry spell in Northern Ireland with temperatures peaking in the mid twenties on both days and no rain in sight!

On day one; Friday 15 August, there were three stages run twice, with the second passes finishing in the dark: SS1/4 Slieve Row (11.80 miles) SS2/5 Camlough (4.43 miles) and SS3/6 Slieve Gullion (6.04 miles) The narrow and very bumpy Camlough test hadn’t been used since it was part of the Newry and District MC’s Modern Tyres Mourne Rally back in 2018.

Day 2 a further six day-time stages would complete the rally; SS 7/10 Kernan Lough (5.91 miles) SS8/11 Banbridge North (9.32 miles) and finally SS9/12 Bronte Homeland, the longest of the rally at 12.60 miles.

I was only out on Saturday but lots of BMMC/BRMC members were helping on both days in various rolls. As start radio on Banbridge North I was joined by Rory and the rescue unit. Both stages ran perfectly and to schedule.

There were 87 starters and just 58 finishers on the Modern Tyres Ulster Rally. A separate Ulster Junior Rally/Nissan Micra Challenge on Saturday attracted a further 10 cars of which 7 finished.

Callum Devine led from start to finish in his Skoda Fabia RS Rally2. This was his first Ulster Rally victory. Second were Osian Pryce and Andy Hayes in a Hyundai i20 N Rally2 21.4 seconds down while Declan Boyle/Patrick Walsh finished third in another Skoda Fabia RS Rally2. Best 2WD finishers were Damian Toner and Aodhan Gallagher in 6th place overall with their Ford Escort Mk.2. Andrew Bush/Geraldine McBride won the seven-car Nissan Micra Challenge while just 2 of the 3 juniors finished. The rally, including a service park, was based in Newry at the huge Modern Tyres complex for the fifth consecutive year.

Good Results for NI Drivers

Apart from Callum Devine’s ITRC success, drivers from Northern Ireland have had a good couple of months Internationally. Josh McErlean was seventh and best of the Ford Puma’s on WRC Rally Finland while Jon Armstrong was a sensational second in his Fiesta Rally2, only 10.7 seconds behind local hero (and 12-time winner) Skoda Fabia driver Jan Kopecky on ERC Rally Zlin in the Czech Republic. Meanwhile in the British Rally Championship, William Creighton driving his Toyota Yaris Rally2 scored a dominant win on round four, the Grampian Rally in Aberdeen. All three drivers are supported by Motorsport Ireland’s Rally Academy.

Rally Diary

Sat. 6th September
Lakeland Stages Rally

• Round 1…Brown & Brown MSUK Northern Ireland Forest Rally Challenge
• Round 4…Nissan Micra Challenge
• Round 6…Sligo Pallets Irish Forest Rally Championship

Organised by Enniskillen MC. Sponsored by Trailer parts & spares.com.There are six gravel stages in the Ballintempo Forest area of County Fermanagh. SS1/4 Carrigan (3.6 miles) SS2/5 Ballintempo North (6.81 miles) and SS3/6 Ballintempo South (4.75 miles) We are covering rescue, radio and timekeeping as well as stage marshalling. Service is centralised in Enniskillen. There are a maximum of 100 cars on the entry list, no less than 28 in class one for Rally2 or R5 machines.

Fri. 19th—Sat. 20th Sept.
50th Bushwhacker Rally

• Rounds 2 & 3…Brown & Brown MSUK Northern Ireland Forest Rally Challenge
• Round 5….Nissan Micra Challenge
• Round 7….Sligo Pallets Irish Forest Rally Championship

Organised by Omagh MC and based at Omagh Showgrounds. Sponsored by McKelvey Construction. The two-day 50th anniversary event uses 10 gravel stages in West Tyrone. On Friday evening (Round 2 of the NI Challenge) there are four stages, three of which will run in darkness. Then on Saturday (Round 3 of the Challenge) there are a further six classic stages. We are providing rescue, timekeepers, radio cover and stage marshals. There are due to be a maximum of 120 starters.

Moira’s William Creighton and his Belfast co-driver Liam Regan are the 2025 Probite British Rally Champions. The Northern Ireland pairing, who were 2021 Junior BRC and 2023 Junior WRC champions, clinched the title on the sixth and final round, the Cambrian Rally in the world-famous North Wales forest complexes of Brenig, Clocaenog & Alwen.

Runners-up last year in an M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2, Creighton & Regan led the 2025 British Rally Championship from round one in their Melvyn Evans Motorsport Castrol Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. A measured fourth place, in very difficult conditions on the gravel of the Cambrian, was more than enough for the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy backed duo to seal the coveted BRC title.

Estonian youngsters Romet Jürgenson and Siim Oja finished the season in second place with their M-Sport Ford Fiesta, while Creighton’s MEM Toyota teammate Meirion Evans and co-driver Dale Furniss were third. Irish pair Kyle McBride (Carndonagh) & Darragh Mullen (Sligo) won the 2025 Junior BRC in their Peugeot 208 Rally4, they were also backed by MI Rally Academy.

Max McRae & Cameron Fair won the Cambrian Rally in a Skoda Fabia Rally2. Max of course is Alister’s son and the late, great, Colin McRae’s nephew. This was his first BRC victory and returns the McRae name to the top of the British Rally Championship time sheets after an absence of 27 years.

NIALL DEVINE DOMINATES DOGLEAP

Storm Amy raged over Northern Ireland on October 3/4. A week later the Dogleap Rally took place in the forests near Limavady in Co.Derry. Fortunately, all planned six stages were almost unaffected by the storm and, after some clearing-up, they ran as scheduled. Organisers, Maiden City MC struggled to attract a viable entry for the fourth round of the 2025 Brown & Brown MSUK NI Forest Rally Challenge. Just two weeks before the event they only had a handful of competitors on their books! Then, after appealing for support and extending the closing date, the rally started with a reasonable 63 cars, 21 of which were Rally2/R5 class 1 machines.

As I indicated, there were three repeated gravel tests totalling 28.02 stage miles; SS1/4 Loughermore West (3.9 miles) SS2/5 Loughermore East (2.06 miles); SS3/6 Cam (the longest at 8.05 miles). The Service Park and Rally HQ were based in Ballykelly at the Shackleton Complex. I was start radio on the flagship Cam stage and had Rory and his rescue crew for company. Both of our stages ran without any major incidents, although three cars went off during SS3 and a further six retired on the final test. The day was good weather wise, “calm”, dry and reasonably mild for mid October.

Winners of the 2025 Premier Car Parts Dogleap Rally were Donemana man Niall Devine (his first ever rally victory) and Letterkenny’s Liam McIntyre in their Volkswagen Polo GTI R5. They led the event from start to finish and were fastest on four of the six stages including both the long Cam tests. It was an emotional victory for Devine, his father Sean won the Dogleap back in 2009. Second place (12.2 seconds down) went the way of the Ford Fiesta Rally2 of Gareth Mimnagh/J Barry McCarney while a similar car, crewed by Alan Smyth and Martin Brady, finished third. Best 2WD were Sam Stewart/Alan Johnston who were 12th in their Ford Escort Mk2. Only 45 cars finished.

Three interesting entries on the Dogleap came from Northern Ireland Rally Champions. Best of them was current champion Aaron McLaughlin who finished 10th in his Fiesta R5 with his usual co-driver Darren Curran. The legend that is Kenny McKinstry finished in last place following a day of problems with his Ford Fiesta Rally2, son-in-law Kenny Hull was on the notes. Meanwhile Jonny Greer and Niall Burns eventually retired their newly-built Historic-Spec Ford Sierra Cosworth with mechanical issues. They were on a testing exercise for the forthcoming marathon Roger Albert Clark Rally with its classic gravel stages in Wales, England and Scotland, scheduled for 19th -24th November.

FOREST CHALLENGE GOES DOWN TO THE WIRE!

No fewer than SIX drivers can win the 2025 Brown & Brown MSUK Northern Ireland Forest Rally Challenge going into the fifth and final round later this month: Stephen Dickson (5th on the Dogleap Rally) leads on 104 points from his dad Ashley who finished the Dogleap in 8th. Both were in Fiesta Rally2 cars. Ashley Dickson has 95 points followed by Jordan Hone (who retired on the Dogleap). Jordan, driving an older Fiesta R5, has 89 points. Sam Stewart leads the 2WD section and is fourth overall with 84 points. Fifth is the Dogleap winner Niall Devine who has 82 points. 2024 champion Derek Mackarel is sixth on 77 points. When dropped scores are taken into account (the best four count) it’s all to play for on Samsonas Rally Fivemiletown (22 November). Any one of the “super six” can take the title!

LOOKING BACK

40 YEARS AGO….1985

Kevin O’Kane and Noel Alexander won the 1985 Omagh Car Auction Centre Bushwhacker Rally in their Talbot Sunbeam with a special BRM engine! (photo below). I was covering radio on the Omagh MC event in the forests of West Tyrone. This was my third successive year officiating on the Bushwhacker. Since then I have worked on all 38 rallies that have taken place, either as a radio operator or part of the timekeeping team. The annual event (also known as the “Tyrone Gravel Grand Prix”) was cancelled on just two occasions: in 2001 due to a foot and mouth outbreak, and then again in 2020 due to the covid pandemic.

We were timekeeping at Nutts Corner when a bright new star, 18-year-old Stephen Finlay, driving a Talbot Sunbeam Lotus (PIA 21), won the SC Engines sponsored Autumn Stages Rally organised by North Armagh Motor Club. Finlay was co-driven by Norman Kittle (photo below from Carsport) Second overall was Dungannon’s Kenny Colbert in a similar car. Harry Burke finished third in a Ford Escort 1600. The event included 14 special stages on a variety of surfaces, with a total of 20 stage miles. The majority of the tests were in and around the old runways of the Nutts Corner complex In Co.Antrim.

30 YEARS AGO…..1995

Derek McGarrity won the Castle Inn Bushwhacker Rally driving an MG Metro 6R4 when local star Robbie McGurk surprisingly rolled out of the event in a borrowed Ford Sierra Sapphire Cosworth. Peter McCullagh was second and George Elliott third, both in Ford Escort Cosworth’s. There were 93 entries. We were timekeeping. There were 11 stages in Lough Bradan, Carrickaholten and Killeter Forests. George Robinson had already won the 1995 Maxol Northern Ireland Rally Championship.

Colin McRae became Britain’s first World Rally Champion when he and fellow Scot Derek Ringer clinched the title on the final round, the 1995 Network Q RAC Rally based in Chester. We were there to see it! John Hughes and I marshalled on the two Hafren Sweet Lamb stages on the Tuesday (SS16/21) in mid-Wales and witnessed McRae blow Prodrive Subaru teammate Carlos Sainz into the weeds! Colin’s speed in the iconic blue 555 Impreza (L555 BAT) was mesmerising, especially on the second run of the stage which was in darkness. This was when he stamped his authority on the rally. We marshalled on a total of five stages, from SS1 Tatton Park on Sunday through to SS23 Dyfi on the Wednesday morning. A total of 200 cars entered the 28-stage event.

20 YEARS AGO….2005

Kevin Lynch won the McGillin Bros. Bushwhacker Rally, and as a result the 2005 Pacenotes Northern Ireland Rally Championship, in his Subaru S9 WRC. There were 13 gravel stages in Gortin Glen Forest Park, Lough Bradan, Carrickaholten and Killeter. We were timekeeping on SS1 in Gortin Glen and then on SS6/11 Slievedoo in Killeter Forest. 110 cars started and 71 finished. John Hughes’s car was damaged by a large stone which left a huge dent in the bonnet of his Seat Leon. Part of our timing team, John was at the start of SS1 when this happened, and in my report back then, I highlighted the dangers of parking at stage starts and how organisers should insure safe locations for us volunteers! (nothing has changed in the 20 years since, see last month’s RallyBuzz) Glenn Allen was second on the rally and runner-up in the Championship.

October 2005 saw the first Rally Ireland test event. We provided a team of 11 timekeepers for the Sligo-based mixed-surface WRC prequel. After just two hours of training on the Friday evening it was straight into action on Saturday when we covered SS1/6. The Lake Isle of Innishfree (Easterly and then Westerly) was a twelve-mile tarmac stage between Sligo and Drumahair. Day two Sunday saw us on a nine-mile gravel stage; Lough Navar Forest near Derrygonnelly in Co.Fermanagh. The event ran well and we would be back for another trial WRC event the following March, this time it would be a full tarmac rally.

10 YEARS AGO…..2015

Back in 2015 the McKelvey Asbestos Removal Bushwhacker Rally was celebrating its 40th anniversary. This was the eighth and final round of the 2015 MSA McGrady Insurance Northern Ireland Rally Championship, which had been already won by Derek McGarrity. Organisers Omagh MC had obtained a “mini road closing order” which meant they were able to join their two Lough Bradan stages together using a short tarmac section and the same with the normal two Killeter stages. SS3/6 Lough Bradan ran at 6.57 miles and SS2/5 Killeter was now 9 miles long. A third stage in Carrickaholten was 100% loose surface. The three stages were run twice. Victor and I were timekeeping at the finish of the 4.55 mile SS1/4 Carrickaholten tests. There were 108 starters and 78 finishers. Winners were Mark Donnelly/Barry McNulty in a Subaru S10 WRC by 20 seconds from the Mitsubishi Evo.9 of Josh Moffett and Jason McKenna. Desi Henry/David Moynihan in a Skoda Fabia S2000 were third. Jon Armstrong finished down in 19th place on the 2015 Bushwhacker. He missed out on a “Road to Wales” prize drive by one point to Killarney’s Rob Duggan, but the young Kesh man did enough to win the 2WD Northern Ireland Rally Championship driving a Peugeot 208 R2. Fast forward ten years and the same Jon Armstrong has just finished runner up in the 2025 European Rally Championship with co-driver Shane Byrne in their M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2.

Rally Diary

Sat. 22nd November
Samsonas Rally Fivemiletown

Omagh MC are the organisers for this the fifth and final round of the 2025 Brown & Brown MSUK Northern Ireland Forest Rally Challenge. As I indicated earlier, six drivers can win the title. Based at Campbell Contracts Yard in Tempo, County Fermanagh. There are eight gravel stages (four repeated) totalling 29 miles in the forests to the south of Fivemiletown, Co.Tyrone. We are due to cover radio, stage marshalling, rescue and timing on this event which was postponed from February due to the extensive damage caused to the forests by Storm Eowyn. Let’s hope the late autumn weather will be kind to the event!

O’BRIEN’S GRAVEL DOMINATION

Patrick and Stephen O’Brien made their annual trip to the forests of counties Fermanagh & Tyrone last month aboard their usual, now-ageing, 2017 Skoda Fabia R5, and in the space of two weeks, the Omagh-born brothers dominated two loose-surface events. Despite being up against several crews in more modern cars, the duo won the Lakeland Stages Rally for the third consecutive year and the Bushwhacker Rally for a record-equaling fifth year in succession! Patrick O’Brien commutes from his home in Perth, Western Australia while co-driver Stephen still lives in Omagh.

The Lakeland Stages on Saturday 6 September consisted of six stages (three repeated) in the Carrigan & Ballintempo Forest complex near Derrygonnelly totalling 30.32 miles. Altogether 104 cars left the Enniskillen start headed for SS1 Carrigan. In what is possibly a gravel rally record, no less than 30 of the starters were in class one R5/Rally2 machines. My job was to cover start radio on SS1/4. BMMC rescue joined me for the two stages.

Enniskillen MC decided to run two-wheel-drive cars first on the road this year, to give them a better chance at tackling the slippery gravel tests before the 4WD cars really cut them up. There were 56 2WD starters on stage one followed by a further 48 four-wheel-drive cars. The 3.60 mile stage started on schedule at 11.06 and no incidents occurred, but because the start of the next stage (SS2) was close to the stop line of stage one, a few delays occurred due to a back-log of competitors. It took 2 hours 14 minutes to put all 104 cars into stage one! Then one hour later we did it all over again! Second time round we had a total of 91 competitors into SS4, once again without any major problems. We were stood-down at around 16.40.

The weather was fine & dry all day and temperatures were average for the time of year at around 16%C. As I said earlier, the O’Brien brothers won the rally. Second were Cathan McCourt and Barry McNulty just 5.3 seconds back in their latest spec. Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 while Kevin Eves/Chris Melly finished third in their Ford Fiesta Rally2. Top 2WD finishers were Sam Stewart/Stephen Peoples in 15th place with their Ford Escort Mk2.

The Lakeland Stages Rally was round one of the 2025 Brown & Brown Motorsport UK NI Forest Rally Challenge. Top points finishers here were Jordan & Paul Hone who finished the rally in 7th with their Ford Fiesta R5. The rally was also round six of the 2025 Sligo Pallets Irish Forest Rally Championship and top registered driver was 8th placed Stephen Dickson and co-driver Ben Teggart in a Fiesta Rally2.

SAFTEY CONCERNS ON GRAVEL RALLIES

On the Lakeland Stages Rally there was a major problem with the set-up of the start control for stages 1/4 Carrigan. There was insufficient parking for service vehicles. The timekeepers and myself just about managed to park but rescue, doctor, stage commander and the ambulance had to base themselves at the arrival control. Not an ideal situation if there was an emergency. I expressed my concern to rally control, but apparently there was insufficient time to move the start to a safer location. I suspect the real reason was that they didn’t wish to shorten the stage! During the event my car was hit by a stone thrown up by a competitor and, even though they were positioned at arrival control, the service vehicles were peppered with stones as competitors warmed up their tyres! The organisers (Enniskillen MC) have since agreed to compensate me for the damage to my car. Apparently similar problems at stage starts occurred on the Bushwhacker Rally.

Stage rally organisers need to protect us all. We are volunteers who give up our time and drive considerable distances to insure a safe running of their events. We expect to have an enjoyable and stress-free day! Clubs should give a bit more thought to safety, risk assessment and what is required when setting up gravel stage start and finish controls. Incidentally, the MSUK Safety Delegate did not question the start set-up on SS1/4 of the Lakeland Stages. Why does that not surprise me!

BUSHWHACKER’S 50th ANNIVERSARY

The Bushwhacker Rally (19-20 September) celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. Organisers Omagh MC decided to mark the occasion by running a two-day event which included three night stages. The event was sponsored by McKelvey Construction. Altogether a huge entry of 125 cars started the 3-leg 65.02 stage-mile event. There were 29 class one cars (Rally2/R5). A further 5 competitors in the Nissan Micra Challenge were added on Saturday only.

Leg 1 on Friday evening comprised of four stages; SS1/4 Lough Bradan (7.09 miles) SS2 Killeter (5.51 miles) and SS3 Carrickaholten (4.85 miles)

Legs 2/3 on Saturday included a further six tests; SS5/8 Killeter (8.30 miles) SS6/9 Carrickalolten (4.85 miles) and SS7/10 Lough Bradan (7.09 miles)

Although some BMMC members were on duty both days, my contribution was to cover radio at the finish of the Killeter stages on Saturday. The weather was dry on Friday but mixed on Saturday, wet for the first run but dry by the time of the second pass. A wealth of experienced rally officials gathered together at the Killeter finish controls. I was joined by Robert McDaid, Elkin Robinson and Michael Carlin from Maiden City MC who, along with Cookstown’s Malcolm McQueen, covered the time controls. The craic was mighty as we reminisced events over the years which we were all involved in, including WRC Rally Ireland. It is now, unbelievably, 16 years since the second and final one in 2009.

Both Killeter stages ran almost to schedule and without incident, apart from one car failing to stop at the finish time control on the first run! The driver of car No. 39 drove past the timekeepers at rally speed; thankfully none of us were injured nor indeed were our vehicles damaged! Unbelievably, car 39 continued in the rally and reappeared on run two! I would have thought he should have been excluded?

There were 120 finishers on SS5 and then 104 on SS8. Patrick and Stephen O’Brien led the Bushwhacker from start to finish in their usual 2017 Skoda Fabia R5. No one else came close to them, except Cathan McCourt who actually won two stages in his newer Fabia Rally2. Unfortunately McCourt retired from second place with mechanical issues on the final stage of the event.

This was Patrick O’Brien’s fifth Bushwhacker Rally win in a row, which equals the record set by Robbie McGurk between 1998 and 2003 (there was no rally in 2001 due to foot-and-mouth disease) Conor McCourt/Caolan McKenna finished second in their Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, but they were 1 minute and 57.6 seconds down! Third overall were Darragh Cairns and Mark Preston in a VW Polo GTI R5. Meanwhile best of the 2WD finishers were Martynas Samsonas/Ugnius Vainevicius who were 15th in their fabulous BMW M3 E36.

Good to see multiple Bushwhacker winners doing “stage demo runs” during the anniversary event. Four-time winner Hugh O’Brien was driving a Ford Escort Mk.2 similar to the one he used on each of those four occasions, while eight-time victor Robbie McGurk was out in an Opel Manta 400. McGurk won the rally driving a Manta in 1991 and 1993.

The 50th Bushwhacker Rally was a double-header in the Brown & Brown NI Forest Rally Challenge. On the Friday stages (Leg 1) the winners were Jordan and Paul Hone in their Ford Fiesta R5 while on Saturday (Legs 2/3) Niall McCullagh and Martin Brady scored top points in their Skoda Fabia RS Rally2. The Hone’s lead the Challenge heading for the next round, the Dogleap Rally on October 11th. In the final round of the Micra Challenge, all five cars finished with Ben Fallis and Louise McBarron taking the win. Andrew Bush and Geraldine McBride had already won the series on the Lakeland Stages.

The Bushwhacker was also the penultimate round of the 2025 Sligo Pallets Irish Forest Rally Championship. Jason Mitchell and Paddy McCrudden did enough to win the title with a round to spare. The Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 crew finished the rally in 8th place.

RALLY DIARY

Sat. 11th October
Dogleap Rally

Round 4 of the 2025 Brown & Brown MSUK Northern Ireland Forest Rally Challenge. Organised by Maiden City Motor Club. Sponsored by Premier Car Parts. Rally HQ & service park based at the Shackleton complex in Ballykelly. There are six gravel stages (three repeated) totalling 28.02 miles; SS1/4 Loughermore West (3.90 miles) SS2/5 Loughermore East (2.06 miles) SS3/6 Cam (8.05 miles) BMMC are covering rescue, radio and stage marshalling. As I write, there are 65 cars on the entry list, 20 of which are Rally2/R5 machines.

Sat. 22nd November
Samsonas Rally Fivemiletown

The 5th and final round of the 2025 Brown & Brown MSUK Northern Ireland Forest Rally Challenge. Postponed from February due to storm damage. Organised by Omagh MC. The rally uses gravel stages south of Fivemiletown in Co. Tyrone. This is due to be our last stage rally of the year. Full details next month.