The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
O’Donoghue in the running for Coleman Award
A YOUNG Kerry rally driver will know today (Wednesday 14) if he has made it to the final three nominations for the prestigious Young Rally Driver Of The Year/ Billy Coleman Award.
Colin O’Donoghue from Killarney found out last Thursday that he had made it to the final eight nominations as a wild card entry.
Five of these hopefuls were nominated during the year for their performances in rallies between January and October, with three additional names added in the form of the highest placed eligible drivers from both the Junior Championship in the Triton Showers National series and the Junior category in the Valvoline National Forestry Championship, as well as a wildcard selection.
The final place on the interview list, the wildcard selection, goes to O’Donoghue, for his Junior category wins on the Rally of the Lakes and the Fastnet Rally, as well as runner-up position in the West Cork Rally. Colin drove a Ford Escort and a Honda Civic during the year.
He said: “Absolutely delighted to get a nomination for the Billy Coleman Award. After all the time, effort and struggles all year, now it pays off when the championship, rally and stage wins are recognised by Motorsport Ireland and the Billy Coleman panel. I’d like to thank all my sponsors that stayed on board with me all year and all my family and friends that supported me from the very beginning. Looking forward to next year already.”
The eight drivers attended an interview in Dublin yesterday (Tuesday 13) where they were due to be narrowed down to just three candidates for the Billy Coleman award.
The overall winner will be announced at Motorsport Ireland’s Champions of Motorsport event in the capital early next month.
The winner of the Motorsport Ireland Billy Coleman Young Rally Driver of the Year Award receives €50,000 worth of support to contest rallies nationally and internationally in 2019 along with the support of Billy Coleman co-ordinator and experienced competitor and organiser Sean McHugh, while the two runners-up will receive free entries into a number of MI permitted events in 2019, along with co-ordinator support.
NAGLE RETURNS
PAUL Nagle will return to rally action on next month’s Rentokil-Initial Killarney Historic Rally.
The Killarney man will team up with Waterford’s Craig Breen, his former Citroen World Rally Team teammate and the pair will share Breen’s newly acquired MG Metro 6R4.
It will mark Nagle’s first run in such an iconic Group B rally, however, it remains to be seen if the crew will actually compete on the event or do zero car duties at the head of the field.
The pair previously worked together during the 2013 European Rally Championship season when they scored several top-three results, including second on the famous Ypres Rally in Belgium at the wheel of a Peugeot 207. A year earlier they contested selected World Championship rounds in a Ford Fiesta and European rounds in another Peugeot.
The Rentokil-Initial Killarney Historic Rally takes place on December 1 and will feature a dedicated spectator stage near Kilcummin village.