Moffett gains Young Rally Driver of the Year nomination

Josh Moffett has been nominated for this year’s Motorsport Ireland Billy Coleman Young Rally Driver Award for his performances in January and February.

The winner of the Motorsport Ireland Billy Coleman Young Rally Driver of the Year Award receives €50,000 worth of support to contest stage rallies nationally & internationally in 2014 along with the support of Billy Coleman co-ordinator, Tom Walsh, while the two runners-up will receive free entries into a number of MI permitted events in 2014, along with co-ordinator support.

Five bi-monthly winners are selected from January-February, through to September-October, joined by the winner of the Junior Championship in the Dunlop National series, the winner of the Junior class in the Valvoline National Forestry Championship, and a wildcard selection, as the award finalists.

The 20 year-old from Clontibret, Co Monaghan, finished second in the Group N Production Car class in both the Galway International Rally and the Birr Stages Rally, the opening round of the Dunlop National Rally Championship, taking ninth and tenth positions overall respectively.

He also finished seventh overall and fifth in his class in Limerick MC’s opening round of the Valvoline National Forestry Championship, and went on to take third overall in the next Forestry round, the Moonraker.

Josh started his motorsport career in circuit racing, in the British T-car Championship in 2007, aged just 14. In 2009, he contested the Dunlop Supercar series at Mondello Park, and scored a number of podium finishes.

He began rallying in 2010 driving a Peugeot 106, winning a Junior class in his first event, the Galway International, and continuing in this car into early 2011 before switching to his current Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. A class win in the National section of the Donegal International was the highlight of the year.

2012 brought a busy programme of Tarmac Championship and Dunlop National rounds, taking seventh overall in the Donegal International and tenth in Galway. Towards the end of the year, he tackled some forestry rallies, winning Group N in the Glens of Antrim event and finishing an excellent second overall in Grizedale, in England’s Lake District.

Josh’s plans for this year include a full programme of rallies in the Tarmac, Dunlop National and Forestry Championships, and he hopes to obtain consistently good results during the year and win at least one of the titles.

The young driver hopes to progress to the European Rally Championship once he has proved himself in home based events. Josh is currently a design engineer/production manager in Combilift, who are his principal sponsor. He also has support from Aisle-Master, Pirelli, Curtis Instruments, PQE, Lowey Transport, The Fitness Habit, Metal Technology, and Gaffey Motor Factors.