Tallaght’s Willie Coyne in action. Photos by Barry Cregg
Rallycross Championship reaches the halfway stage
THE third and fourth rounds of the PartsforCars.ie Rallycross Championship took place at Mondello Park last weekend to mark the halfway stage of the series.
Current champions Derek Tohill was back out fresh from claiming his second Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship at Lydden Hill earlier this month.
The Supercar class is the top tier class in rallycross and Tohill would be joined on the grid by local man Tommy Graham would be taking his first run out in the ex John McCluskey Ford Fiesta. Also joining him would be William Carey, Declan Kelly, Darragh Morris and Shane Murphy.
Tohill dominated the heats winning three on the bounce to lead overall on times heading into the final.
In the final Tohill saw stiff competition particularly from Shane Murphy who proved to be more than a match for the multiple time Irish champion.
The two quickly asserted themselves as the two fastest on the track and were on the same pace for much of the race. Tohill however managed to be a fraction quicker each lap and would just edge out Murphy to take the overall win in the final event of the day.
Tohill spoke on the win afterwards. “I’m delighted to get the win, it was close between me and Shane but its also good for the championship and to get the hard work done. Now we can use the other rounds to test the Hoosier tyres for the European rounds next year. It means we have room if they don’t work as well and we drop points in those rounds.
Tallaght native Willie Coyne impressed in the modified class for two wheel drive cars. He battled Peter McGarry and Sam Bovill across the day with all three men winning in the heats.
Derek Tohill has an impressive weekend
Other racers such as Niall Carey and Pete Dornan also threatened throughout the day but the final would see the competition boil down to between Coyne and McGarry as they entered the final stages of the race.
McGarry would be unable to get past Coyne and the man from Tallaght would be awarded the victory.
“I’m thrilled to get the win, I drove as hard as I could to stay ahead of Peter, the car was on two wheels in a few places. It was great fun and I enjoyed it.”
Sunday saw the fourth round take place and Tohill again looked promising throughout the heats. He would again however be challenged in the final this time by William Carey. Despite only fractions of seconds separating the two drivers Carey was never able to get his nose in front as Tohill earned himself another victory.
“That was a hard one, fair play to William. He drove superbly and pushed me all the way. We had another great weekend with four wins on the bounce which leaves us in a good place at the halfway point of the season.”
Tallaght’s Willie Coyne would pick up his second win of the weekend in the modified class emerging as victor in Sunday’s final also. He spoke after the victory.
“It’s been a great weekend to take two wins. I am just concentrating on the modified class championship this year and this weekend will help that.”
The next round of the championship takes place on the 7th & 8th of March 2026.
