Irish Shine in Spain
There was a brace of County Monaghan Motor Club CLG members on the podium in Spain last weekend.
The European Rally Championship 2026 got underway with the 43. Andalucía Rally-Sierra Morena-Córdoba World Heritage Site 2026.
The opener of the European rally championship was also the opening round of the Fiesta Rally3 Trophy 2026, the championship that the two County Monaghan Motor Club members are competing in.
The event began on Friday with a shakedown stage followed by the opening special-stage that evening.
On the opening special-stage the Meath/Monaghan pairing of Cian Caldwell navigated by Ballinode man Paul McPhillips finished second fastest.
Truagh man Killian McArdle navigating for Tipperary native Casey Jay Coleman finished the opener just 1.1s in arrears and set the third fastest stage time.
Six special-stages lay ahead on Saturday. Following the 104 stage kilometres on the Saturday, Casey Jay and Killian were leading the Fiesta Rally3 Trophy but they had their eyes set on the Junior category as they were just 4.8s in arrears of the leading crew who were onboard a Renault Clio Rally3.
Caldwell and McPhillips finished Saturday in 2nd place in the Rally3 trophy championship. Six special-stages lay ahead on the final day of the event.
A puncture on Sunday’s opening special-stage hampered Casey Jay and Killian’s hunt for the Junior lead but they still remained in the Fiesta Rally3 trophy lead. The event came to its conclusion at the end of SS13, at which point Casey Jay and Killian and secured the victory of the opening round in the Fiesta Rally3 Trophy.
Cian Caldwell and Paul McPhillips were pipped to 2nd place in the championship by fellow Irishman Kalum Graffin navigated by Rhodri Evans by a mere 0.5s after 203.8kms of special-stages.
The second round of the Fiesta Rally3 Trophy Championship will take place in Sweden on the 22-24 of May.
Closer to home, the 2026 Trailer Parts & Spares Irish Forest Rally Championship continued with the EARS Motorsport Moonraker Forest Rally based in Dungarvan County Waterford last weekend.
On this six special-stage event Josh Moffett/Andy Hayes took their Hyundai i20 R5 home in 1st place overall,
taking a 3.1s win over Jordan and Paul Hone onboard a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 Evo. Michael Conlon and James McEneaney took their Ford Escort to 23rd overall and 1st in class 14.
The 2026 Seat Supercup Ireland series began on Sunday last in Mondello Park
In Race 1 Stephen Wright took a start to finish victory while on race 2 Sam Moffett finished in 2nd place.
Oisín Sherlock.
County Monaghan Motor Club 