County Cork driver Brian O'Mahony and County Mayo co-driver John Higgins will get their season underway next weekend [March 15/16] when they contest the West Cork Rally.
The reigning Dunlop National Championship class 6 champions will be back in action across the tarmac stages in their OM Concrete Products and Tom Hogan Motors-backed Super 1600 Renault Clio, run by O'Leary Motorsport, for the Clonakilty-based event.
The rally will be a warm-up for the crew as they prepare to contest the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship for a third time this year.
In 2005 they won the British Super 1600 Championship in a Ford Puma but 2006 did not prove as successful as they were blighted by mechanical problems on the car. Last season they switched to the Clio to take part in the National Championship and went on to win the class title.
The pair have had a short break from competition over winter with their last event being November's Rally Ireland. They now return to the stages across some familiar territory having contested the West Cork Rally twice before but on both occasions have failed to finish due to mechanical difficulties and O'Mahony is hoping it will be third time lucky next weekend.
“The aim is not to do anything stupid, the car was stripped during the winter and everything bar the engine was rebuilt so we're just doing it as a shakedown really,” the 23-year-old said.
“The stages are lovely down there and it's a rally I love to do. I've done it twice but stopped both times on the Saturday with engine failure, hopefully bad things won't come in a three for us.”
O'Mahony and Higgins start at number 29 for the West Cork Rally and are the top class 6 seeds.
Following on from the event they will drive the course car on the Moonraker Forestry Rally on Sunday 13 April in preparation for a return to the gravel for the opening round of the BRC, the Carlisle-based Pirelli International Rally - the next weekend on April 18-19.
