On a frozen lake on the outskirts of Dagali in Norway, a blue flash weaves through the snow banks as a Nissan Almera GTi scrabbles for grip. Behind the wheel is 2023 Sligo Pallets Forest Championship Junior 1000 Champion Tommy Moffett, and he is here as part of a Prize Package funded by Craig Breen and the Foundation named in his honour.
For the young star, the trip is one of learning and development, with two days spent under the guidance of rally legend John Haugland at his world famous Winter Rally School. Over his 50 year career, the Norwegian ace has seen countless stars of the sport pass through his Rally School, and Tommy Moffett can now proudly add himself to the illustrious list of pupils.
One of the most famous recent stars who spent time at Haugland's winter playground was Craig Breen, and it was through the prize package that he self funded at the start of the 2023 season. Determined to make a real impact on the development of future Rally stars from a young age, Craig put together a €10,000 fund that would see every competitor benefit by way of vouchers throughout the season, and ultimately a driver development trip for the series champion.
The Craig Breen Foundation aims to continue and build on the good work started by Craig in developing the path into top level rallying for young Irish competitors, while honoring his memory. With the support of Hyundai Motorsport, Sports & You, Hyundai Portugal, Hyundai Spain, Motorsport Ireland and the FIA, the foundation has committed to support the J1000 Championship for a minimum 5 year period from 2024 onwards.
The foundation will initially see a total prize fund valued at over €35,000 made available for the 2024 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship J1000's. This includes:
Prizes to the value of €1,000 per round for each round of the Championship
€16,000 in support toward 2025 rally events for the top 3 placed drivers in the Championship (€5,000 to the winner and €3,000 each to the second and third placed drivers)
A funded drive on a round of the 2024 or 2025 Spanish/Portuguese Hyundai i20 Cup with the Sports & You team for the Championship winner (age dependant)
1 day rally tuition at John Haughland Winter Rally School shared between first and second place drivers in the Championship
1 days pacenote tuition from Paul Nagle for the top 3 placed drivers in the Championship
The funded drive in the 2024/2025 season with the Sports&You team, owned by Craig’s friend Zé Pedro Fontes, is the same team that Craig contested the Portuguese Rally Championship with in 2023. This prize comes with the support of Hyundai Portugal and Hyundai Spain.
This years winner, Tommy Moffett, was joined on the trip by his championship winning navigator Domhnall Lennon, as well as Tommy's Brother and twice Irish Forest Rally Champion Josh Moffett (Thanks to both for the photos & videos). With the guidance of John Haugland, Domhnall & Josh, the trip was an incredible opportunity for Tommy to adapt to a more powerful FWD car as he prepares to make the step into a new machine this year, as well as to an all new surface.
From the reports received back, the trip was a huge success with incredible amounts of seat time and practice put down, some great tuition from the legendary John Haugland and the only reported damage being from the elder Moffett leaving a Mitsibushi rear bumper in a snow bank (allegedly)!
The 2024 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship kicks off on February 18th with the Castleisland, Co. Kerry based Killarney Forest Rally.
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