With two rounds down, the 2025 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship season is already shaping up to be a cracker.
Entries have boomed to levels unseen in the history of Irish Gravel Rallying, online interest in the series is at an all-time high and yet the current standings look as if the clocks have been rolled back 15 years as Pat O’Connell & Mark Wiley, champions in 2010, lead the way as we head to this weekend’s Sean Conlon Tipperary Forest Rally.
For O’Connell & Wiley, a strong top 10 finish on the season opening Carlow Forest Rally was a steady beginning to their campaign, but a remarkable return to the top step of the podium claiming victory on the Moonraker Forest Rally has seen them soar into a three-point lead in the standings.
The pair also took victory on the Moonraker in their Championship season, so perhaps this is a sign of what lies in store as the action moves into the pair’s backyard on local stages on the Tipperary/Cork border.
Behind O’Connell & Wiley, Vivian Hamill & Gary Nolan are in hot pursuit as they have taken little time adapting to the Ford Fiesta Rally2 this year and shared the podium last time out, while Niall Devine sits level with Hamill in the drivers’ title race and Michael Coady is just off Nolan in the Navigators battle.
Having begun the season with a pair of Tarmac rounds in the Midland Stages and Circuit of Kerry rallies, its Jack Harris who holds a slender three-point advantage in Class 2 heading to Mitchelstown for this weekend’s event.
After an impressive victory last time out, Harris will be looking to really make a mark on the MIJRS series and build on his Class 2A win in 2024.
His nearest rival in the standings is Tommy Moffett, the pair both competing in Ford Fiesta Rally4’s would feel a lot more comfortable on the loose having risen through the J1000 ranks, so the battle is likely to be tooth and nail over the six stages.
