Rallying’s €50,000 question: Billy Coleman Young Rally Driver of the Year award

Few issues within Irish motorsport generate discussion as much as the Billy Coleman Young Rally Driver of the Year award. 

During the week, the eight nominees for this year’s award were interviewed and then whittled down to three, with Derry’s Callum Devine (22), Meath’s Gary McNamee (24), and Monaghan’s Josh Moffett (24) chosen as the final trio.

The judging panel has made their overall decision but it is being kept under wraps until the award ceremony in Dublin on Tuesday, December 13.

In monetary terms the prize is worth €50,000. The prestige it carries is far more valuable.

The final trio had contrasting campaigns, Moffett by far being the busiest in terms of competition as he competed in the Irish Tarmac Championship in a Fiesta R5 — winning the final round in Cork in early October. He also took in rounds of the Irish Forest series and some British events. Driving an Opel Adam R2, Devine won the category in the Irish Tarmac Championship while McNamee netted the Triton Showers Junior Rally Championship. Moffett has now reached the final phase for the fourth successive year but it’s a first for both McNamee and Devine.

Many of the winners have progressed on the international stage, most notably Craig Breen and Keith Cronin, two of the finest talents in the sport.

Yet, their motorsport careers could scarcely provide more of a contrast. As Waterford’s Breen begins his two-year contract with a factory drive with Citroen, Cork’s Cronin has yet to firm up on a plan for 2017. Rallying is probably one of the few sports where sheer talent is no guarantee to getting to the pinnacle. In the overall context, the €50,000 from the Coleman award is miniscule in the budget required to reach the top ladder in world rallying. Breen was extremely fortunate to have loyal and trusted backers to provide that massive financial support. It’s questionable if any other young Irish driver will make it that far for quite some time, given the huge monetary pressures.

The debate on the Coleman award continues and so too does the comparison of the nominees, whose budgets fluctuate to an alarming degree. Not every Irish driver aspires to follow the “Breen dream” and that is accepted; many are quite happy to compete in domestic championships. Picking young talent that drive considerably different cars is challenging to say the least. There is a desire to have a proper Irish Junior Championship run on a selection of both tarmac and gravel rallies along with a test day where they can also be judged on decision making on tyre selection, suspension set-up, and the manner they relate to the service engineer. Drivers like Gary Kiernan and Chris Armstrong (both nominated for the last three years) are extremely talented but, yet again, did not make the final cut. Is it because they compete in Mk. 2 Escorts? Kiernan is eligible for the award in 2017. If selected again, he may feel there is no point in attending the interview.

On Sunday, the 5 Star Catering National Autocross Championship and the O’Shea Bus Hire Munster Autocross Championship dovetail on the Birr Loose Surface Autocross in Gravel Park near Moneygall. Wexford’s Sean Cahill (JB Buggy) has already clinched the national series with the race for runner-up between Maynooth’s Joe MacHale and Clonakilty’s Paul O’Driscoll. Meanwhile, it’s advantage O’Driscoll in the provincial series where he is nine points in front of Cahill. The Fiesta 6-Hour Endurance race in Mondello Park starts at 12 noon.