Limerick motor Club hosts round two of the Valvoline Irish Forest Rally Championship this weekend, the Keltec Engineering Limerick Forest Rally.

Undeterred by the freak Snow Blizzards that cut their efforts short last year, COC Anthony Nestor and the Limerick Motor Club have put in huge work to make the 2020 event a true classic that should be remembered for quite some time.

The stages, based around the Limerick and Cork border, are incredibly quick and cover over 66 kilometres of some of the most rewarding high-speed thrills that Irish rallying has to offer.

Heading the field, and most definitely the early favourite, are Round 1 winners in Carrick-on-Suir two weeks ago James Wilson and Arthur Kierans with the PCRS prepared Hyundai i20 R5. Michael Carbin and Conor Mohan in their Mitsibushi Evo 9 and 2019 Irish Forest Champions Cathan McCourt and Barry McNulty in a Ford Fiesta R5 are back for the 2020 season.

In the 2WD section, all eyes will be on the battle of the Ford Escorts, with Round 1 winners Gary Kiernan and Daren O’Brien who will be pushed to the limit by a raft of big names who have a lot more loose-surface experience. Michael Conlon and Grace O’Brien had a great event in Carrick-on-Suir to take second place, but they know that there are even more friendly rivals to deal with in Limerick.

Chief among these is 2019 Valvoline Irish Forestry 2WD Champions David Crossan and Aileen Kelly who start their defence this weekend having skipped Round 1, as have fellow Class 14 MK2 Escort crew David Condell and Paul Kelly, winners of the grueling 2-day Cork Forest Rally in 2019.

Behind them, the FWD battle is set to rage between the Opel Adam of Jordan and Paul Hone and the Ford Fiesta’s of Marty Gallagher and Dean O’Sullivan and Kyle White and Sean Topping.

In Class 11F, inspirational young navigator Sara McFadden will make her Valvoline Irish Forest Rally Championship debut alongside current class leader Ian McCarthy in his Honda Civic. The visually impaired Mayo woman has quickly grown a reputation as an incredibly skilled co-driver, and the Limerick Forest Rally will be a first venture off tarmac and into the Woods!

Lastly, the closest battle of all on Round 1 of the season was in the M’O’Brien Plant Hire Junior 1000 series, where only 1.2 seconds separated the Nissan Micra of Reece Pollock and John Burke and the Toyota Aygo of Kyle McBride, who this round will be navigated by Declan Casey. The field of J1000 crews will be the first to leave the Rally HQ in Abbeyfeale on Sunday morning, with six incredible stages lying in wait for what is sure to be a great days rallying!

The 2020 Valvoline Irish Forestry Rally Championship Calendar

Round 1: Willie Loughman Memorial Forest Rally - February 16th - Carrick-On-Suir

Round 2: Limerick Forest Rally - March 1st – Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick.

Round 3: Moonraker Forest Rally - March 28th – Ballyvourney, Co. Cork.

Round 4: Sean Conlon Memorial Rally - May 17th – Clonmel, Co. Tipperary

Rounds 5 & 6: Jim Walsh Cork Forest Rally - July 25th/26th - Mallow, Co. Cork

Round 7: Bushwhacker Rally – September 26th – Omagh, Co. Tyrone