New M-sport prize for Junior 1000 Ireland

The Junior 1000 Ireland Championship has launched a new prize structure for next year’s six-round series.

The first Nissan Micra driver in the championship will get a trip to M-sport for a tour of the facilities. Along with that, the series is investing £3000 worth of entry fee vouchers, which will be split between the top five crews on each event to encourage crews to take part in all or a majority of the rounds of the championship.

The National Construction Skills Academy backs the series. The NCSA’S Brendan Crealey, a former Peugeot Challenge and Mitsubishi Evo Challenge winner, said: “I strongly believe in the Junior 1000 series, and indeed initiated this one back in 2012. I’d like to see more competitors in the series. Structured rallying from the age of 14 is a positive thing.

“I’d like to see more of the young talent out there getting into rally cars, and that’s the reason I decided to help the forth-coming challenge.”

Series co-ordinator Andrew Bushe added: “It has been difficult to get new blood over the past year or two in Northern Ireland so the prize scheme will provide very welcome encouragement.”