Birr And District Motor Club hosts very successful rally

ON Saturday, April 20th, glorious sunshine welcomed competitors from all over Ireland and abroad to Garahy's Garage, Birr, the Rally Headquarters for the Garahy Family Birr Stages Rally.

The event was organised and promoted by Birr & District Motor Club, where Clerk of the Course, Eoin Longworth and his team had readied three Stages to be repeated three times for the crews to tackle the following day. The title sponsors of the Rally were T.J. Garahy Ltd., Garahys Garage and Garahys Tractors.

The Rally was a counting round of the Triton Showers National, Top Part West Coast, Hugo Loonam Motors Midlands East and Sligo Pallets Border Rally Championship.

At Rally HQ from early Saturday morning, Event Secretary Clodagh Henehan and her team signed on the crews so they could recce the Stages (which were being prepared from 4.30am!) and on the competitors' return, the team completed the competitors' documentation scrutiny. From 2pm at Rally HQ, the Rally Cars and the Competitors Safety Equipment underwent mechanical scrutiny, under the watchful eye of Chief Scrutineer, Mick Linehan.

For the first time at a National Rally in Ireland, competitors were given the option of attending the mandatory Drivers Briefing either on Saturday night or on Sunday morning. This was widely welcomed by the crews and the Club was praised for the flexibility it offered.

Held on Saturday evening was the Youth Marshal/Official Training at Dooly's Hotel, Birr. This new initiative by the governing body, Motorsport Ireland was presented by Motorsport Ireland President, Aiden Harper and readied attendees to observe and learn from experienced Marshals and Officials as they undertake their roles. Birr & District Motor Club wishes every success to the course participants and looks forward to seeing them out on events as they work towards being Officials, Chief Marshals and Clerks of the Course in the years to come!

Sunday morning dawned with blue skies welcoming the new maximum number of competitors that could start the event, 165 cars. The Garahy Family Birr Stages Rally marked the first time in Ireland that 165 cars started at a National Rally. As eager crews left Parc Ferme at Garahy's Garage, talk turned to tyre choices, dusty conditions and how the day's competition would shape up. The format of the Rally was three Stages to be repeated three times with a Service Halt after Stages 3 and 6.

The Service Area was kindly hosted by Grennan's of Rath and sponsored by Transpec - Truck and Trailer Parts. Service Area Manager, Ronan Shanahan and his team had undertaken trojan work to get the site ready for the competitors service teams to enter and set-up from 6am on Sunday. The Stages to be tackled were Lisduff, sponsored by Doolans Service Station & Kelly Tyre Service, the classic mountain stage of Glendine sponsored by SOLA - Solar Energy Solutions and Moll Joy's Hill sponsored by R.A.E. Autofactors.

With the fantastic weather, a large number of spectators gathered on the stages guided by the Marshals & Officials to safe areas from where to view the action. There were also a large number of spectators who headed to the Service Area to see the cars and crews up close, with a bit of ice-cream on the side!

The Glendine Stage was the one the competitors were all looking forward to and in the post-stage interviews it was lauded by the crews as one of the best stages in Ireland. The competition was tight, with placings changing throughout the field, but after the final time control, it was the Moffett brothers from Monaghan who justified their top seedings for the event. Josh Moffett/Keith Moriarty (Citroën C3 Rally2) led from start to finish ahead of Sam Moffett/James O'Reilly (Hyundai i20 Rally2) with third secured by David Kelly/Arthur Kierans (VW Polo GTi R5) on their final stage. In the Modifieds, Kevin Gallagher/Ryan Moore (Darrian T90 GTR) claimed the top spot, 22.1seconds ahead of Chris O'Callaghan/Kaine Treanor (Ford Escort Mk2).

The Historics saw Ronan Campbell/Denny Greaney (Ford Escort Mk2) take the win by almost a minute from David Armstrong/Ashley Trimble (Ford Escort RS1800) and in the highly competitive Juniors, Jason Wilkinson/Ciaran McGinley (Honda Civic) narrowly edged out Kyle McDaid/Shane Maguire (Honda Civic EK4) by 2.3seconds to take the win.

The Birr & District Club Member results saw Tom Holton Jnr. (Ford Fiesta) with his Navigator Stephen Joyce finishing 14th Overall. In Class 13, Aidan Bourke navigated by Pierce Doheny Jnr. were 2nd in Class. Eoghan Fogarty and James Lowry debuted a Ford Fiesta Rally3 and had a great result of 3rd in Class.

In Class 11R, Damien Brophy (Toyota Starlet RWD) was navigated by Gerard Buckley to 9th in Class. Kieran Guinan with Ronan Mooney were in Class 12 (Ford Escort Mk2) finishing 9th in Class and Barry McGleenon navigated Alan Nesbitt (Ford Escort Mk2) in Class 14 to 8th in Class. Unfortunately, Mike Garahy and Iarla McCarthy (Ford Escort Mk2), who were leading their class heading into the last stage had to retire with fuel line problems. Also unlucky were David Forde with T.J. O'Brien (Subaru Impreza) and brothers Gary Higgins and Liam Higgins (BMW E30), as both crews retired with mechanical troubles on Stage 5.

It was the 30th Anniversary for the awarding of the highly coveted John Finnegan Memorial Trophy, presented to the highest placed Birr & District Motor Club Navigator at the Rally. The 2022 winner, James Lowry was looking to retain the Trophy for another two years, but a fortuitous change for Barry McGleenon from Driver to Navigator saw Barry lift the Trophy for the first time. Barry knew John Finnegan from when John made his first foray into navigating with John Feenan in an Opel Ascona. Barry is delighted he is adding his name to the prestigious list of winners of the John Finnegan Memorial Trophy.

The sole Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy entry was Jack Brennan navigated by John McGrath (Peugeot 208 Rally4). They finished 7th in Class before heading to their next event competing at the Rally Islas Canarias for the second round of the FIA European Rally Championship.

The Motorsport Ireland Women in Motorsport Commission promotes and encourages women in motorsport. Birr & District Motor Club had women involved in all aspects of the preparation, organisation and running of the Garahy Family Birr Stages Rally. There were also several women competing - Ruthann O'Connor navigated her husband John Warren, in what was arguably the drive of the Rally to a fantastic 15th Overall in what was a brand new car for both of them, a Ford Fiesta R5. Best all-Women crew were Hazel O'Callaghan navigated by Ella Ryan (Ford Escort Mk2) in Class 13. Sarah Hennessy navigated Bobby Hennessy (Ford Escort Mk2) in Class 13 to 13th in Class. Also navigating were Gillian Gilmartin for David Hunt who clinched 3rd in Class 2A and Ava O'Driscoll for Thomas Carolan in Class 11R who were 12th in Class.

Chief Marshal for the Garahy Family Birr Stages Rally, Ger Brophy passes on his sincere thanks from the Club to all the Marshals for their help and assistance. Ger went on to say, "Thanks to all who worked so hard to make it a success for both competitor and spectators, without the support of other Clubs, our Rally would not have been possible. We look forward to working with you again in the future."

Clerk of the Course, Eoin Longworth is delighted that the Garahy Family Birr Stages Rally was such a success. He noted, "The event ran well, it is a real team effort, all the planning and hard work behind the scenes ensured its smooth running and the Rally ran to schedule. We had loads of help and I can't thank enough those who helped with the Rally to make it so successful."

Club Chairman, David Forde is pleased at the fantastic feedback from the competitors at the compact format, the hospitality and the stages. He says, "Well done to Eoin and all his team for a top class event. I wish to thank all those who supported our Club, especially the Garahy Family, the residents, the competitors and the large number of Marshals from neighbouring clubs and elsewhere who made this such a successful event. There was close competition and fantastic weather for the huge number of spectators who lined the stages and viewed the Rally Cars in the Service Area. Our Club members invested a huge amount of time and effort to run the Garahy Family Birr Stages Rally, and we are rightly all very proud of it. We hope to see you all again at the next Birr Stages Rally."

Birr & District Motor Club is grateful for the support of the residents, farmers, landowners, sponsors, advertisers, club members, motor clubs, marshals, officials, competitors, local businesses, spectators, National Parks & Wildlife Service, An Garda Síochána and the local County Councils as without them, this event could not have been such a success.

For further information on the Garahy Family Birr Stages Rally, including the full results, head over to the Birr & District Motor Club website, www.birrmotorclub.com.

Birr & District Motor Club won't be resting on their laurels, as preparations are already underway for their next event, a double-round of the Partsworld Munster Autotest Championship on May 25th & 26th. Event details will be posted on the Club website and on the Club social media channels (Facebook, Instagram and X).