2019 has been a year of highs and lows for Irish Rallying, we had Kris Meeke back in a full-time drive with Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC, Craig Breen back in the WRC fold with Hyundai and returning to the Irish Tarmac Championship. On the downside of the sport, we lost two heroes of the sport, Manus Kelly and John Mulholland.
Manus was an icon of the Donegal Rally having won the National section back in 2015 in the MKII Escort and then the following three years taking outright victory in the Subaru S12b. He tragically lost his life in an accident during this year’s Donegal Rally. The way the whole rallying community came out to pay their respects to Manus Kelly will stay long in the memory. Manus was well known beyond rallying circles and with his big smile and welcoming manner, made everyone feel like they knew him. The crowds that queued to attend his wake, or stood in silence in the graveyard as the s12b rasped its bark one final time for this generations ‘King of the Hills’ showed the esteem he was held in as everyone wanted to say farewell.
John Mulholland was a long-time competitor and had sponsored various events, John lost a battle with illness this year but he’ll long be remembered as a friend to many.
World Rallying showed its humility in Australia, as the teams and crews gathered to contest the final round of the championship. Bushfires spread across the region and the event was cancelled but the crews spent time with the rescue services, helped out where they could. The teams donated the food that was to be used over the weekend to help feed the rescue services. Hopefully, in some small way, this lifted the spirits of the local residents and showed that these world stars had a heart. The six-time world champion Sebastien Ogier personally donated to the fund. It was a dark time for the Coffs Harbour area but rallying showed that it had a heart.
Looking at the standout Irish performances of 2019, it’s not based solely on results but on what they have done for the sport not just in Ireland but spreading beyond our shores all that is good about rallying in this wee island.
An honourable mention has to go to the Tarmac Championship itself, Craig Breen was back from his WRC exploits on hopefully just a temporary hiatus, we had Alastair Fisher back and showing the speed and commitment hasn’t waned, Callum Devine an undoubted star in the making, plus Meirion Evans coming across from Wales whose speed increased with every round. Of course, there are at least another 5 drivers who start each event believing that they at the very least can be on the podium if not fighting for the coveted number one spot. The level of R5 entries on almost every round was exceptional and at the finish, crews were scraping over tenths of a second to decide their final placings. Not one event in the championship was won by more than one minute and indeed the average winning margin was approximately 24 secs. Also when the ITRC and British Rally Championship clashed on two occasions, West Cork and Ulster Rallies, it was our guys who came out on top! The history books will show that Craig Breen and Paul Nagle scored a perfect full house of five victories but this has been one of the best years for the ITRC in terms of competitiveness for a long time.
Frank and Lauren Kelly have once again taken Baby Blue the infamous blue MKII Escort to various events across the globe. For 2019 New Zealand, Belgium and San Marino were the chosen destinations as well as selected events at home. This was to be Kelly Motorsports second visit to the land of the long white cloud. The Otago Rally which is based in the South Island in the city of Dunedin played host to a two-day event which was run mainly on the famous New Zealand gravel roads. The Co. Tyrone father/daughter combination took a fine third in class, and of course Frank regaled the spectators both in and out of the car. Onwards to Whangarei which is on the North Island for the International Rally of Whangarei, again two days of the finest gravel lay ahead. All was going well until a corner over a bridge was taken at a speed that was a little optimistic, a trip into a field where unfortunately a concrete water tank lay in wait. The damage sustained saw Baby Blue needing some treatment, the locals arrived with tools, soon the pair ready for the road once again. Frank admitted putting on a show for the fans and destroying many tyres in the process!!
Late summer saw Baby Blue set of a European adventure with a return to both the Escort Rally Special in Belgium and Rally Legend in San Marino. Over exuberance at a jump early in Belgium left Frank with a lot of work to defend his title of fastest Escort in Europe but with the bit between their teeth Lauren pushed Frank, by the end they got back to within a minute of eventual winners Francois Duval & Ludovic Blaton in their similar MKII.
San Marino is the home of Rally Legend, this is the third time Baby Blue has graced the stages over there. For the Kelly Motorsport team, this rally is all about putting on a show for their many fans. Frank as always is only too happy to oblige. Baby Blue entered and left corners at near impossible angles as the Millington engine rasped and barked and the tyres squealed in protest much to the delight of the spectators.
Between all these adventures Frank competed on various events at home taking some strong results along the way.
Josh McErlean the 20 year old from Co. Derry has shown promise from the first time he got behind the wheel, he dominated the J1000 category class back in 2015 and 2016 category. Going onto 2017 Josh and his team decided to go the R2 route in the Junior British Rally Championship, this was a very brave decision as Josh had limited experience on the loose. At the time Josh said that it the obvious choice as the competition was close, it allowed him to prepare his own notes, complete recces and compete on some fantastic events. The first year in the JBRC a Citroen C2 R2 Max was the car of choice, which was by then a little outdated, Josh set some very encouraging times but had some mechanical gremlins and a couple off-road excursions. For 2018 the decision was made to go with MH Motorsport in a Fiesta R2 and once again return to the JBRC. Progress was definitely made as he finished second in the category on the specialised Ypres Rally even with a few niggling issues but it was the Ulster where McErlean demonstrated his undoubted talents. Competing against the highly-rated Steve Rokland, the Co. Derry native initially struggled with tyre choice dropping 20-30 seconds, but once he got settled he set a string of fastest times to come back to within 0.6 seconds of the lead. With 2 stages remaining a puncture on the penultimate stage saw a time loss of 15 secs. Josh was on a mission on the last stage to try and make up the lost time but unfortunately, he slid off the road and out of the rally.
He regrouped over the winter and decided that for 2019 he’d go back to having his own team running the car and it was decided that a Peugeot 208 R2 was a competitive package.
Josh put a lot of work in before the season had even begun, the hard work paid off as he took three victories in the JBRC , claiming the junior title plus third overall in the British championship. For claiming the JBRC the organisers of the championship awarded Josh the opportunity to compete on Wales Rally GB in a Hyundai Racing backed i20 R5. Testing with the Hyundai Racing team allowed Josh and his co-driver Keaton Williams to get familiar with the car and although they were forced to withdraw early from the event they showed their undoubted talents by setting one fastest time in the R5 category and matching and indeed beating many established R5 crews including regular BRC R5 crews.
McErlean has shown he’s not afraid to spread his wings, an entry was placed for the Monza Rally Show where over 60 R5 cars were due to start. Josh along with Keaton Williams were once again in a Hyundai Motorsport, Customer Racing backed i20 R5 he has also received backing from Motorsport Ireland as well as his usual sponsors. Josh and Keaton impressed the Italian team running the car over the weekend, Promo Racing Team. Only for a small issue with the car on Sunday morning the guys would have finished inside the top 15. They still took 18th overall which was a highly impressive performance considering the quality of the entry list. They also claimed third in the Hyundai Motorsport Trophy which saw them claim 3000 euro in prize money plus the admiration of many of their contemporaries.
Josh was the first nomination for the Billy Coleman Award in 2019, it was no surprise when he made the final three in November. Josh along with David Kelly and Derek Mackerel his fellow final three nominees gathered at the City West Hotel. Here the Champions of Irish Motorsport awards were to be announced and the Billy Coleman Award is amongst the most highly sought after awards up for grabs on the day. Josh was announced the winner of the prestigious and the 100,000 euro prize fund will help on the next step of the path for the young Co Derry man, will we see more outings in an R5 or progress to the Junior WRC in a Fiesta? The next few weeks are going to be very interesting for this young man as he plots his next move.
Craig Breen had a disappointing end to 2018 when his contract with Citroen Racing wasn’t renewed and has he admitted later in 2019 he’d lost his passion and love for rallying. When he could have laid down and blamed everyone else for his demise he put his best foot forward and decided to reignite his passion for the sport. Where better to do this on the roads where he learnt his trade. Initially, Galway was to be a one-off appearance in the Tarmac Championship but it transpired into a concentrated Championship bid, taking 5 victories to secure maximum points and the title. Breen also rekindled his partnership with Paul Nagle for 2019. They didn’t have the easiest of times in the championship as the rest saw Breen as having a target on his back and they wanted to beat him. This lifted the pace in the championship to a new level, for Breen and Nagle to complete the season as champions and without putting a mark on the car speaks volumes of their abilities. He also took part in two rounds of the Italian Championship where he took one victory and a fourth. A one-off drive in a VW Polo GTI R5 on the Ypres Rally in Belgium, which is a highly specialised event, which Breen had competed on previously three times. To step into a new car with a new team and take on the highly experienced locals and win comfortably was a superb display. All these results were ensuring that he was keeping the WRC teams aware of his talents, When Andrea Adamo the boss of Hyundai Motorsport needed a driver to compete on Rally Finland in his i20 WRC, the call was made to the Co Waterford native.
He was afforded a comprehensive test including competing on Rally Estonia before the start of the Finnish round of the WRC but to step back into the highest echelons of the sport and set three second-fastest times on Friday morning showed Craig and Paul deserved to be back at this level. By Sunday afternoon he had to play the team game and allow Hyundai number one driver Theirry Neuville past as he was pushing to claim points in the drivers’ championship. He had impressed Adamo and the team and was given another opportunity on Wales Rally GB. Setting highly respectable times for the over two legs until and the pair rolled into a bog, they were extremely lucky that they got out with mainly cosmetic damage but with no service until the end of the day they had to struggle on with a damaged windscreen which was causing problems seeing the road! In the end, they had to settle for eighth overall, Adamo was interviewed after the rally and wasn’t best pleased but Craig was to be given another chance on Rally Australia. Unfortunately, the area in Australia that the rally was to be run in was ravaged by bushfires and the event was cancelled. Breen has been given 25 days of testing and development of the i20 R5 car, so he is obviously finding his feet well with the team, will he gain a seat with them in 2020? The driver market is in freefall at the moment, Hyundai poached the new world champion Ott Tanak from Toyota to join Theirry Neuville along with car-sharing buddies Sebastien Loeb and Dani Sordo. Is there a possibility of filling in the events that Loeb and Sordo aren’t comfortable with, this coupled with the development of a new R5 which Hyundai will launch late 2020. There are also rumours of a Hyundai ‘B’ team which is believed to consist of Breen and Mikkelsen. This would be the ideal opportunity for Craig as he would be driving current spec cars on the world stage, in Andreas he’d have a strong teammate to measure his performances against.
Midway through 2018 did even Kris Meeke believe he’d have 2019 world rally campaign. As he was ruthlessly disposed of by Citroen Racing before the midpoint of the season, but as they say every cloud has a silver lining, Tommi Makinen, team boss at Gazoo Toyota Racing team came calling and Meeke was onboard for the 2019 season in what arguably is the fastest car in the WRC. Also, Meeke had a new co-driver, Seb Marshall, alongside him in the Yaris when the crews rolled across the Monte Carlo startline.
The first three events of the 2019 season seemed to show a new Meeke as he drove with his head as much as his heart, strong results and valuable points on the power stage saw Meeke sitting comfortably fourth in the WRC standing. When the crews went to round four the Tour de Corse, Meeke had a puncture on SS1 which left him on the back foot, as he pushed to pick up time he ran wide damaged the suspension, ninth wasn’t ideal at the finish but again a strong power stage eased the pain. The next three rounds typified Meeke’s results in the WRC strong times with small issues taking the shine of the final result. Rally Portugal was going well, two stages from home lying second overall dropping valuable seconds and dropping to third. Pushing hard on the power stage Meeke cut a corner and clipped a tree stump, ripping the wheel of. A steady run was required to get Kris’s season back on track, Sardinia was underwhelming by their own high standards, never really in contention all weekend, resulting in a top 8 finish. Finland was next on the calendar, this was pretty much a home event for the Toyota team, and a strong performance was expected. Meeke was holding second when he ran wide and pulled a rear wheel of the Yaris and ending his rally for the day. Back under Rally 2 for the third leg, Meeke put the Yaris off the road again. This wasn’t what the team required as Hyundai was pulling clear in the fight for the manufacturers’ title. Toyota Gazoo Racing came into 2019 as the defending manufacturers’ champions and it was important that the title was retained. Tanak was leading the drivers’ title and was in a strong position to claim his maiden title. Meeke and teammate Latvala were not backing up their team leader and thus the team were struggling to keep pace with Hyundai. The next round in Germany in many ways was a perfect event for the Tommi Makinen ran Toyota team as Tanak took the win, Meeke second and Latvala third. Turkey wasn’t as successful for the team the Yaris struggled on the Turkish stages, Tanak suffered a suspected electrical failure, causing him to return under rally 2. Latvala and Meeke finished sixth and seventh respectively. Wales Rally GB is as close to a home event that Meeke has and he initially lead the rally but with Tanak chasing the drivers’ title it was important Meeke brought strong points home for the team, especially as Latvala had crashed out early in the event. He duly completed the task with a strong fourth overall. The penultimate round of the WRC was Rally Spain, Hyundai was pushing hard locking out the podium for much of the first two legs. Meeke looked comfortable in fourth until he slid wide, the damaged forced him out for the day. With the last round in Australia cancelled Meeke finished the season sixth in the overall standings, only four points away from fourth. Toyota lost the makes title to Hyundai, Tanak took the drivers title and promptly announced he was joining Hyundai. The loss of the manufacturers’ title could well have been the reason why Meeke or Latvala contracts weren’t renewed for 2020 as the Gazoo team have announced a completely new driver line up.
As much as we’d all love to see Meeke extend his career for at least one more season it now looks unlikely. He could without a doubt have a career outside the WRC will this be of interest to the Tyrone man?
Coming into 2019 Callum Devine was at a crossroads, he’d just finished a year on Junior WRC in which he felt he set some competitive times but through bad luck and a few small incidents, he hadn’t the results to show for his efforts. Would they return to the JWRC or look elsewhere. Devine also had a Fiesta R5 sitting in the garage which he’d only used on three occasions.
The West Cork Rally was a counting of both the Irish Tarmac and British Rally Championships in 2019 and this was to be Callums’ first event of 2019 as he decided to see where his pace compared with the best of Irish & British talent. Partnered by Brian Hoy, Devine immediately showed his talents. In what were extremely wet conditions the Co. Derry/Fermanagh partnership settled into a top 6 position from the start. He climbed to fourth then back to seventh before getting back to sixth a position they held until the end. It was a result which drew much praise from his fellow competitors. Next up was a round of the Northern Ireland Championship which was running close to Callums’ home village. After a cautious first stage, Callum set two second-fastest times plus two scratch times to finish just 14-seconds behind seasoned R5 competitor Desi Henry. The Easter Stages was round three of the ITRC and Devine was again on the entry list. This event showed another step forward for the team as they set seven top 3 times over the two days and indeed were well in the mix for a strong podium until two stages from home when a small issue caused them to drop back out of the battle a podium finish. Still, a strong fourth was the result and only 28 seconds behind Breen and Nagle who took the win. This is especially impressive when you consider they dropped at least 10 seconds with their issue near the end.
Killarney’s Rally of the Lakes was next on the agenda and this cemented Devine’s spot at the top table, 12 top three times over the 16 stages including taking fastest time on Molls Gap which saw him receiving the Bertie Fisher memorial trophy. To be battling with Breen and indeed Alastair Fisher showed Devine was the real deal and was the undoubted star of the series thus far. The Donegal International Rally was next on the agenda, Breen and Sam Moffett had stepped up to WRCpower for Donegal. It was also the first event that Devine had previously competed in an R5. The Derry man star shone brightly in Donegal as he was fastest overall on stage one, beating all the World Cars, plus his fellow R5 competitors. He proved this was no fluke as he set one more scratch time on Saturday, indeed his times against the other R5 cars were standout as he never set a time outside the top three. He was almost a minute ahead of Josh Moffett when the rally was halted and over two minutes ahead of Alastair Fisher both seasoned Donegal Rally competitors. Before the start in Letterkenny Callum had set out his game plan, which was to go as fast as he could for as long as he could. To finish third overall taking maximum points was the justification of his plan. Newry was the new base for the Ulster Rally and it saw the BRC competitors join the fray once more, it showed how far Callum has developed this year that he was disappointed to finish third overall and second place of the ITRC registered crews. Callum’s strong showing in the championship rounds had left him in third place with only the Cork 20 remaining. He took the decision to compete in Cork with the aim of claiming the runner up position in the Championship. On the first day, all was going to plan as Devine and Hoy lead comfortably until a broken drive shaft saw them drop to fifth at the end of the first day. Devine went on the attack on Sunday morning but collected a puncture and with the resulting time loss, he decided to pull out of the rally. He was persuaded to enter the following weekend’s Donegal Harvest Rally. The results show a start to finish victory but Devine had a couple of spins along the way. He kept his cool and took his first outright victory. The days following the Harvest it was announced that Devine and Hoy had been contracted by the Hyundai Racing team to contest the final round of the European Rally Championship, Rally Hungary in a PCRS ran i20 R5.
On his first rally in the Hyundai i20 Devine excelled, the conditions were horrendous with heavy rain and standing water making staying on the road an accomplishment of its own. Everyone suffered to varying degrees, on one stage Devine got a puncture, stopped to change it and by the end of the stage he’d got another puncture! Devine was under strict instructions to bring the Motorsport Ireland backed Hyundai to the finish but to come away six top-five times including one fastest overall on the very last stage showed the potential. Indeed the fastest time on the very last stage was almost a minute quicker than anyone else as he climbed from fifth to third overall. The European Rally Championship with Hyundai is one possibility for the 25-year-old former Billy Coleman Award winner, and on this showing, he definitely wouldn’t be out of his depth. To cap off a fantastic year, Callum was awarded International driver of the year award at the recent Motorsport Ireland, Champions of Motorsport award ceremony.
Once again Ireland as a whole has made its mark on the world stage, some fantastic initiatives from Motorsport Ireland and the Billy Coleman Award are hopefully setting the next generation on a pathway that will hopefully keep our country as a shining star in International motorsport. We look forward to 2020 to see who will be the leading light for Irish Motorsport, will Breen or Meeke return to the top echelons of the sport? Will Devine’s reputation continue to soar in the European Rally Championship? Josh McErlean has already impressed many with his progress, 2020 will no doubt see him make others aware of his talents. Kelly Motorsport will continue to travel with big slides and even bigger smiles, if the plans come together it could be a very exciting year for Baby Blue. Is there another talent who this year will get the opportunity to explode on to our radar? So let us look forward to 2020 with a warm heart, as Irish rallying is in a healthy place and it will no doubt continue to flourish.
Krunching Gears 