The contenders for 2022 Billy Coleman Award and €100k prize
Seven top rallying talents will interview for Motorsport Ireland’s Billy Coleman Young Rally Driver of the Year Award on Wednesday 8th November.
It will be the first time since 2019 that the prize has been awarded. Josh McErlean was the winner three years ago and the subsequent support helped him complete two seasons in the World Rally Championship.
So, who has been nominated for the 2022 Billy Coleman Award?
1 Jack Brennan
The 18-year-old was granted a wildcard nomination one week ago after a stellar year aboard his J1000 Skoda Citigo.
Brennan has collected top honours in the 2022 J1000 National Forest Championship and Motorsport Ireland’s dual-surface Junior Rally Series.
The up-and-coming Kilkenny star has also sampled left-hand-drive this year with strong finishes on the GSMC Mini Stages and Sardinia’s Rally Terra Sarda alongside co-driver John McGrath.
As if that isn’t enough for the teenager, Brennan is a leading light in Autocross winning the National Loose Surface Championship for buggies this year.
2 Joe Browne
A trio of podium points finishes in Mayo, Tipperary, and Galway was enough for Joe Browne to secure the 2022 Junior National Rally Championship. The Honda Civic pilot joins an imposing list of drivers to have won the single-day series’ junior section.
Browne’s National Championship title rewarded him with a Billy Coleman Award nomination. An impressive achievement in his first full season rallying.
3 Ryan Caldwell
County Tyrone’s 20-year-old grabbed Motorsport Ireland’s second wildcard nomination last week. The news was sandwiched between Caldwell’s European Rally Championship debut and receiving his trophy for winning the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship’s Rally4 category.
Caldwell, and co-driver Grace O’Brien, have also shown their pace on gravel this year. Their remarkable list of results includes class wins in Galway, Mayo, the Circuit of Ireland, and the Moonraker Forest Rally.
It has been quite the year for the young man who made his stage debut on the Bushwhacker Rally only 14 months ago.
4 Dylan Eves
The Motorsport Ireland Junior Rally Series’ J1600 Champion has been given his shot at going for the Billy Coleman Award.
Eves has been a regular pace-setter in Class 16 this year, stamping his authority on the class in the dual-surface championship.
His Class 16 victory on the Carrick-on-Suir Forest Rally was his maiden career win.
5 Eamonn Kelly
Donegal’s Junior British Rally Champion was nominated for the Billy Coleman Award courtesy of his performances between January and May.
They featured an important JBRC win on Scotland’s Jim Clark Rally as well as a spellbinding drive on March’s West Cork Rally. Kelly, and co-driver Conor Mohan, finished over seven minutes ahead of their nearest front-wheel-drive rival on the two-day Irish Tarmac event.
The Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy member went on to win Junior BRC with two rounds to spare and has proven his ability to switch his speed to four-wheel-drive with a string of top results aboard his Volkswagen Polo R5.
6 Kyle McBride
At 19 years of age, Kyle McBride is another young rally driver to make a terrific start to his closed-road career.
The Donegal man grabbed his nomination courtesy of winning the Rally4 category of MI’s Junior Rally Series. McBride never strayed from the podium positions across the series’ seven rounds. That consistency clinched the title ahead of Ryan Caldwell and Aoife Raftery.
The Ford Fiesta R2T pilot also sealed the BRC’s Academy Trophy which gifts him free entries into next season’s Junior BRC rounds.
McBride has been a part of the MI Rally Academy since the start of 2022, an experience which no doubt helped him grab two titles this year.
7 Patrick O’Brien
Ireland’s 2022 National Forestry Rally Champion received a well-deserved wildcard nomination after a string of strong results between June and October.
The Skoda Fabia R5 driver grabbed his first-ever overall title after four straight top points finishes in the championship.
O’Brien sealed the championship in perfect fashion by defending his local Bushwhacker Rally despite running first on the road.
The 25-year-old furthered his credentials by running third overall on BRC’s Cambrian Rally amidst mechanical troubles. Unfortunately O’Brien had to retire his sickly Skoda after the Welsh event’s fourth stage but it doesn’t shadow what has been a very impressive year on gravel.
O’Brien is the third nominee to come from the MI Rally Academy.
The winner of the Motorsport Ireland Billy Coleman Young Rally Driver of the Year Award will receive €100,000 worth of support to contest rallies nationally and internationally in 2023.
That prize fund has been made possible by a €50,000 investment from Sport Ireland and Motorsport Ireland, combined with a €50,000 pledge from the Team Ireland Foundation.
The Billy Coleman Award winner will also receive assistance from its co-ordinator, Sean McHugh.
Additional support from the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy as part of a training and development plan to progress the winner’s career will also be available. The winner may apply for funding for a second year of support upon satisfactory performances in their award-winning year.
Both award runners-up will receive support to compete in stage rallies at home and abroad up to an amount of €15,000 each.
It would be remiss not to mention John Coyne, whose unparalleled support of young rally drivers in recent years has heavily influenced the MI Rally Academy and provided wonderful opportunities to Ireland’s top rallying talents.
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Photos courtesy of Gavin Woods and BRC
