Round one of the 2016 Valvoline Motorsport Ireland National Forest Rally Championship was the Willie Loughman Memorial Carrick on Suir Forest Rally.

A total of fifty eight crews started the eight-stage event and thirty-eight finished on a fine day through the slippery forest tracks.

Winners were Sam Moffett and James Fulton, making history by winning in their Ford Fiesta R5, after an excellent run. The Monaghan driver elected not to register for the series. "I don’t plan to contest the whole series, just do a few events so I don’t see it as fair to take points away from the series contenders” said Sam as he readies his R5 for the British Rally Championship.

Therefore maximum points went to 18 year old Patrick O’Brien, after a magnificent rally in his DJ Rally Hire Group N Evo 9. With co-driver Aine McGuigan alongside, Patrick the reigning Valvoline Junior champion, proved just why he took that title, as the move from the front wheel drive Citroen C2 to the four wheel drive Evo seemed easy for the Tyrone driver.

"I really enjoyed it” said Patrick. "I was happy with our times, and the car, though we had a problem with the active diff after the first stage, which meant that the front diff didn’t work right for the rest of the day. We also had to change intercom at one point, but aside from that the rally flowed very well. I wasn’t sure what our plans were this year, we had considered a go at the BRC but after that start to this series it’s tempting to continue with it. There is a class 20 Evo 9 with a sequential gearbox available, a bit of an animal to be honest! I may consider using that for the Moonraker”.

In the two-wheel drive racers category Adrian Hetherington and Gary Nolan in their 2.5 Escort took the honours, in what was a relatively drama free day by the spectacular Escort pilot.

Other important class winners were: Class 2- Graeme Colfer (Honda Integra), Class 3-Emmett Lyons (Honda Integra), Class 9- Ruari Maguire (Vauxhall Corsa), Class 10-Mike Garahy (MK2 Escort), Class 11F-Michael Fitzgibbon- (Honda Civic), Class 11R- Jason Walsh (Ford Escort). The championship again has started strongly and round two is the classic Moonraker event in April.

2016 Valvoline Motorsport Ireland National Forest Rally Championship Round One results:
1 Sam Moffett/James Fulton  Ford Fiesta R5  37:36.6 
2 Patrick O'Brien/Aine McGuigan  Mitsubishi Evo 9 +1:03.6
3 Michael Carbin/Darragh Kelly  Mitsubishi Evo 4 +1:30.5
4 Liam Ryan/Keith Moriarty  Mitsubishi Evo 8 +1:51.6
5 Gerard Lucey/JJ Cremin   Mitsubishi Evo 8 +2:14.6

Points after round one:
1 Patrick O'Brien 21
2 Michael Carbin 19
3 Liam Ryan 18
4 Gerard Lucey 17
5 Adrian Hetherington 16

Remaining rounds of the 2016 Valvoline Motorsport Ireland National Forest Rally Championship:

Round 2: 16th April - Moonraker Forest Rally
Round 3: 7th May - Tour of the Sperrins Forest Rally
Round 4: 14th August - Jim Walsh Memorial Cork Forest Rally
Round 5: 3rd September - Lakeland Forest Stages Rally
Round 6: 16th October - Mayo Forest Stages Rally
Round 7: 5th November - Glens of Antrim Forest Rally