Huge entry for Donegal season finale
Damien Tourish and Kevin Duggan - Photo: Cian Donnellan
It’s a case of a one last rush to the finish line as the 2025 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship is set to play out to a thrilling conclusion with the eight and final loose surface event of the season sees crews take on this weekend's Donegal Forest Rally.
Having been postponed at the last minute in February due to the damage caused as a result of Storm Eowyn, the team in Donegal Motor Club worked quickly with Motorsport Ireland to secure an alternative date for the event, and deliver a hugely anticipated final round of the season that has attracted a bumper entry right across the field.
Heading off to the first of five special stages and a high speed 64km route are newly crowned Irish Forest Rally Champions Jason Mitchell & Paddy McCrudden, the pair wrapping up the title in style taking a maximum points haul on the Bushwhacker Rally. Behind the wheel of a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, Mitchell & McCrudden claimed victories on the Tipperary & Mayo Forest Rallies as well as maximum Championship points in Carlow and Cork in what was a remarkable season.
The returning Donegal event, last ran in 2019, will see local star Eamonn Kelly make his Rally2 debut on Irish Gravel behind the wheel of a similar Skoda to Mitchell. Guided by Conor Mohan and fresh off a second season in the Junior WRC that included a win on Rally Finland, the pair finished on the podium on the 2024 Lakeland Stages in a Rally3 car, while they also took on this years Moonraker Forest Rally in a similar machine.
At third seed are recent winners of the non-Championship Dogleap Rally Niall Devine & Liam McIntyre in a VW Polo GTi R5, while behind them a pair of previous Irish Forest Championship event winners return to the series with Mark Donnelly returning after a two year break and guided by Martin Brady in a similar VW, and Jordan Hone & Paul Hone making a late entry in their Ford Fiesta R5.
While Mitchell & McCrudden have secured the title heading to the final round, there is still a lot to play for in the Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship as Stephen Dickson & Ben Teggart and last years champions Derek Mackarel & Eamonn Creedon are locked in an incredibly tight battle to secure second in the 2025 standings.
In the 2WD section, the field is led away by the massively in-form Sam Stewart who has Alan Johnston navigating in their Ford Escort MK2, but they will have a huge battle on their hands dealing with recently crowned 2WD champions Hugh McQuaid & Declan Casey, while a third Ford in the reckoning is sure to be Damien Tourish & Kevin Duggan, with all three having claimed a 2WD win this year. To keep things even more interesting for the Championship regulars, the Donegal Forest Rally will see Marty McCormack & Rory Kennedy make an appearance in a BMW E30 M3 as they prepare for the RAC Rally.
Right across the classes, the battles to secure silverware at the November 22nd Championship Prizegiving are sure to be enthralling, and in J1000 in particular its set to be a winner-takes-all scenario as Kyle Drury & Karl Egan take on James McShea & Grace O’Brien. Both in similar VW Up!, McShea arrives knowing a win or second is vital if he wants to claim a last gasp victory, but its made more complicated by the fact that he also need to keep Drury behind him on the timesheet to claim the crown. Winner of the opening two rounds David Travers is joined by Brian Martyn as he remains in the battle for the overall positions as well.
With a field of 100 cars set to leave the Donegal Town based Parc Ferme on Saturday morning, the action is sure to be hugely exciting right to the very end. The first of five stages, Loughfad, will begin at 09:17, with the first of the J1000 crews due back at the finish mid-afternoon for what is set to be a thrilling podium celebration.