Junior World Rally Championship front-runner Eamonn Kelly will make a return to the Probite British Rally Championship this weekend, as the twenty-five-year-old Co. Donegal driver contests the JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion, rounds five and six of the series.
Kelly and two-time British champion co-driver Rory Kennedy will join the BRC3 and ERC3 [FIA European Rally Championship] ranks, driving a Ford Fiesta Rally3 in the three-day Aberystwyth-based event.
After two blistering campaigns in the Junior British Rally Championship in 2021 and 2022, Kelly clinched the coveted JBRC title on his second attempt and with almost perfect synergy, he lifted the crown on the very stages he is set to tackle.
After his Junior BRC crown, Kelly would go on to tackle the prestigious FIA Junior World Rally Championship, finishing fourth in the standings in 2023 and claiming his first World-level victory at the Croatia Rally that season.
The Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver returned to the series in 2024 but has endured a tricky season so far. Now, however, he makes a welcome return to the BRC season.
“It’s awesome to be back over in the BRC” says Kelly.
“We pulled into Aberystwyth this morning and I was immediately reminded of good memories from 2022! I cut my teeth in the JBRC, and even though I’m still learning we’re coming back with more experience now, so it will be nice to see how we get on. It’s great to see the championship collaborating with the ERC too, which gives us a great challenge in the Rally 3 category. It’s so nice to be on a familiar surface for once, but in a championship as competitive as the BRC & ERC. I have a previous BRC champion navigating for me too in Rory Kennedy, so it’s nice for him to make a return to the championship where he had great success alongside Mark Higgins”.
Rali Ceredigion is a great event. It was 2022 when we did it last, but even then the level of professionalism in it’s organisation was clear to see. As for the stages, they are unique and challenging but great fun. If you can get into a groove on the technical tarmac through the valleys and moorlands it’s an awesome feeling.”
In a break from his Junior WRC campaign, Kelly is eager to utilse the weekend as a test bed for the remainder of the season.
I think the level of competition and nature of the event will definitely help us to keep building our speed. We actively chose to come here instead of Greece as we had nothing to gain championship wise there, and felt that this event was more beneficial for keeping up the positive momentum we’ve shown in terms of our pace, compared to the survival nature of Greece. For me right now all I want to do is keep building speed and use any opportunity such as this to showcase the speed we feel we have on an international stage!”
Images courtesy of M-Sport Poland
