Brian O'Mahony and co-driver John Higgins will return to action in the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship next weekend when they contest the two-day Pirelli International Rally.
The reigning Dunlop National Championship class 6 champions will be back behind the wheel of their OM Concrete Products and Tom Hogan Motors-backed Super 1600 Renault Clio, run by O'Leary Motorsport, for the opening round of the BRC.
The crew last competed in the BRC in 2006 in a Super 1600 Ford Puma, having been crowned British Super 1600 Champions the previous year. Last season they switched to the Clio to take part in the Irish National Championship and went on to win the class title.
The pair have done the Pirelli International Rally twice but have not contested a gravel event since Rally Finland in August last year. They are running the course car on this weekend's Waterford-based Moonraker Forestry Rally to get some practice in across the surface with a view to getting off to a comfortable start in the championship on the Kielder Forest-based gravel event next weekend.
"I can't wait to get back to the BRC, the rallies are very good, and it's just really enjoyable," 23-year-old O'Mahony said. "It's the only championship I can do that won't affect my college work this year and some of the prizes are very enticing but it's disappointing that there's no other Super 1600's registered for the series yet.
"The Pirelli Rally is very tricky and the stages are not the most forgiving so I'll just be trying to keep my nose clean and get a good finish, they don't call it ‘killer Kielder' for nothing. The first time I did the rally in 2005, it was my first time across gravel in a S1600 and it was a steep learning curve but we managed to get to the end.
"Gravel is my favourite surface so I can't wait to get back out onto it. We've made some changes to the car since Finland so it's good that I can get to test it out on the gravel on the Moonraker."
