Midlands offers fast start to National Rally Championship
It is all systems go as the 2023 National Rally Championship commences on this weekend’s Midland Moto Stages Rally.
The Longford-based event has received an oversubscribed entry filled with blockbuster names in top-of-the-range motors.
National Championship-winning brothers Josh and Sam Moffett lead the way in their brace of Hyundais. Andy Hayes partners reigning champion Josh as they bid to jump back onto the top step after a runner-up finish on last month’s Galway International Rally.
Sam Moffett and Keith Moriarty made a fast start to their Hyundai i20 Rally2 debut in Galway. All eyes will be on their performance as the Rally2 Hyundai tackles a different type of terrain in Longford.
Matt Edwards and David Moynihan make a welcome return to Irish rallying, tackling the Midland Moto Stages Rally in Keith Lyons’ Ford Fiesta Rally2.
Callum Devine and Declan Boyle complete the star-studded top-five in their Volkswagen Polo R5s while the list of potential rally challengers continues for the next 15 Rally2 cars.
Daniel McKenna and Andrew Grennan open the modified running order in their famed Ford Escort Mk2. David Bogie, Gary Kiernan, Mark Alcorn, Dessie Keenan, and Chris Armstrong are all Escort experts keen to stamp some authority in the rear-wheel-drive field.
Richard Moffett and Kevin Gallagher will be ones to watch driving a Toyota Starlet and Darrian T90 respectively.
Throw Frank Kelly, Gary McPhillips, Christopher O’Callaghan, Marty Toner, and plenty of others in the Class 14 mix – spectators surrounding Longford are in for a serious treat.
The class battles are going to be intense throughout the 150-car pack and it looks like Midlands offers a brave battlefield to host the championship opener.
Three loops of three stages combine to create 110 kilometres of flat-out rallying on Ireland’s epic asphalt terrain.
Oghill (10.02 km), SS1/4/7
It is set to be a fast and flowing start to the 2023 National Rally Championship with commitment key from the get-go in Longford. Oghill may be familiar to some as it was used a number of years ago in the same direction.
The second half of the 10-kilometre stage is really choppy which could make things interesting at the start of the rally. Crews will be hanging on for dear life through the high-speed section that passes over a bog.
Kilmoyle (11.84 km), SS2/5/8
Kilmoyle starts off on a big, fast road that goes down to a brave right-hander. Like the stage before, the rest of the 11.84-kilometre test consists mainly of fast sections.
In fact, you might notice a theme over Midland Moto Stages’ three stages – fast, flowing roads.
Bawn (14.70 km), SS3/6/9
Bawn will be flat out for the first 11 kilometres. It is really fast.
The start is tricky with a couple of corner combinations that come on top of each other. Then it opens out into another fast stage before crews enter a narrow final split.
The last three kilometres are the width of a car and no more which makes for a challenging, unforgiving end to the final stage of each Midland Moto Stages loop.
Could this be the scene of another dramatic finish to a rally in Ireland?
Photos by Roger Dawson
