FINALISTS FOR 2024 YOUNG RALLY DRIVER OF THE YEAR AWARD
Motorsport Ireland has announced the three finalists for the prestigious Billy Coleman Award for Ireland’s Young Rally Driver of the Year 2024.
Ryan MacHugh (26), from Frosses in Co. Donegal, has been named alongside Craig Rahill (20), from Drung, Co. Cavan, and Kyle McBride (21), from Clonmany, Co. Donegal, as the final trio.
The three drivers were drawn from five candidates who were nominated on the back of their performances this year. All the finalists faced a rigorous selection process which included interviews from a panel of judges comprising representatives from Irish motorsport, Sport Ireland and the media.
MacHugh’s standout achievements during 2024 include winning the hugely competitive RC4 class in the Irish Tarmac Championship and finishing second in the 2024 Junior British Rally Championship in his Ford Fiesta Rally4.
Rahill, a finalist for this award last year, impressed on tarmac and gravel in 2024 in his Rally4 Ford Fiesta, winning his class in the Motorsport Ireland Junior Rally Series, the Triton Showers National Rally Championship and the Sligo Pallets National Forest Rally Championship.
McBride shone in the Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup this season, scoring top points on three occasions in his Peugeot 208 Rally4, narrowly missing out on the title to Welsh driver Ioan Lloyd.
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 2025. The Sport Ireland and Motorsport Ireland funded award is valued at up to €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 a further €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 2025.
All funding will be based upon agreed plans which will be subject to the achievement of progression targets. The winner being announced on December 4th at the Champions of Irish Motorsport Awards in Dublin.
