‘Tarmac champion targets British title’
Fiesta driver returns after two-year absence
Reigning Irish Tarmac Rally champion Josh Moffett will contest the British Rally Championship in 2019, alongside an ITRC defence and a shot at the Irish National Championship.
Moffett has made retaining his Irish Tarmac Rally Championship crown the priority in 2019 and will begin the defence of his title on the one-day Galway International at the beginning of next month. Joining him at the newlook closed-road meeting will be older sibling Sam in a second Ford Fiesta R5.
Moffett is desperate to win the National Rally Championship after losing out in a three-way title fight last year. That result effectively ended his hopes of conquering all three Irish series in the one campaign after he had wrapped up the Irish Forest Rally Championship alongside the ITRC in 2018.
Perhaps of biggest significance is the 2017 Billy Coleman Award winner’s decision to return to the British Rally Championship for the first time since 2016. On that occasion he ended up in fifth place with his single best performance coming on the Circuit of Ireland with ex-team-mate, John Rowan.
“I know it isn’t going to be easy but I want to defend my Irish Tarmac title this year,” Moffett told MN. “We just missed out on the National Rally title last year, so we will go after it too.
“As for the British Rally Championship it was a no-brainer to have another go at it. Two of the rounds [West Cork and the Ulster International Rally] brings British Rally and Irish Tarmac crews together.
“The last time we went up against guys from the BRC was August [Ulster Rally] – and we finished on the podium.
“We have to be realistic. Three titles is the goal, but to get even just one will be nice.”
Meanwhile, Moffett has revealed both he and Sam are on the look out for a new World Rally Car to replace their existing Ford Fiesta. Prior to the New Year Josh got the chance to drive the latest era of World Rally Car at M-sport’s test facility in Cumbria. It was the same Fiesta that took Motogp legend Valentino Rossi to a seventh victory at the Monza Rally Show over in Italy at the start of December.
“We were extremely fortunate to get that opportunity,” explained Moffett. “We have been looking at changing our current Ford Fiesta for something fresher and the latest car would be the ultimate machine. The new generation cars take things to a new level. They are unbelievable bits of kit.”
The current spec World Rally Championship cars were never supposed to be used on national events, with WRC manufacturers receiving special dispensation to run the cars on just a handful of events.