Final four Billy Coleman award nominees for 2025 announced
The final four Billy Coleman award nominees for 2025 have been announced. Casey Jay Coleman, Cian Caldwell, Jack Kennedy and Ross Ryan now join Kyle McBride and Joe Kelly in the running for the prestigious award.
22-year-old Casey Jay Coleman from Clonmel has received the only wildcard nomination this year. Having progressed from karting, Coleman has moved up through the ranks from J1000 to Rally2. A class win on the 2025 West Cork Rally set Coleman up for a successful season abroad where he competed in the M-Sport Fiesta Rally3 Trophy, which runs within the European Rally Championship. A win in the Czech Republic and second place in Italy saw Coleman finish as runner up in that series and he then switched to a Skoda Fabia Rally2 for the Wexford and Cork 20 Rallies where he produced some eye-catching times.
Casey Jay Coleman
Cian Caldwell from Kells, Co. Meath, secured his nomination by dominating Class 2 in the Triton Showers National Rally Championship, the Sligo Pallets National Forestry Rally Championship and the Motorsport Ireland Junior Rally Series. The 21-year-old started fourteen rallies in 2025, finishing them all and winning Class 2 on seven occasions. The Peugeot 208 Rally 4 driver only started rallying in 2022 and was a previous nominee for the Billy Coleman Award in 2023.
Cian Caldwell
Wexford’s Jack Kennedy confirmed his nomination by winning Class 2A in the Triton Showers National Rally Championship and the Motorsport Ireland Junior Rally Series. A product of the Wexford Motor Club Youth Academy, Kennedy started in the J1000 class in 2021 before stepping up to a Ford Fiesta R2 in 2024. This season, the 20-year-old took class wins on the opening rounds in Longford and Kerry, which were then followed by a string of consistent finishes with co-driver Dylan Harrington.
Jack Kennedy
The final nominee for the 2025 Billy Coleman Award is 19-year-old Ross Ryan from Youghal, Co. Cork. Ryan qualifies by being the highest placed eligible driver in Class 2A of the Sligo Pallets National Forestry Rally Championship. After three years in J1000, the 2025 season saw Ryan step up to an ex Junior World Rally Championship Ford Fiesta R2T with great success. A trio of class wins on the gravel in Cork, Tipperary and Mayo was complimented by a trio of class wins on tarmac the Raven’s Rock, Cork 20 and Fastnet Rallies.
Ross Ryan (R) with co driver James Deane (L)
All six nominees will now face an interview panel in late November with the winner of the 2025 Motorsport Ireland Billy Coleman Young Rally Driver of the Year Award being announced at the Motorsport Ireland Champions Awards lunch on December 3rd.
About the Award
The winner of the Motorsport Ireland Billy Coleman Young Rally Driver of the Year Award will receive a support package to contest rallies nationally and internationally in 2026. The Sport Ireland and Motorsport Ireland funded award is valued at €50,000. The award winner will receive assistance and guidance from Billy Coleman coordinator Sean McHugh.
An additional support package, to a value of up to €50,000, will be available from the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy as part of an agreed training and development programme designed to progress the winners’ career. The winner may apply for a second year of support upon satisfactory performances in their award-winning year.
Both Billy Coleman Award runners-up will receive support to compete in stage rallies at home and abroad up to an amount of €15,000 each as well as an invitation to participate in the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy development programme in 2026.
All funding will be based upon agreed plans which will be subject to the achievement of progression targets.