Rally Academy Founder Returns To ARA National Championship

After a two-year break, while he focused on building up the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy, of which he is founder and patron, John Coyne will return to competition in the American Rally Association National Championship 2024.

The 73-year-old Irish driver, who resides in California, has been competing in rally for some 55 years, and will start his fourth season in the ARA National Championship in a Hyundai i20N Rally2 which will be run by PCRS Rallysport.

John will be accompanied throughout the season by Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy co-driver Eoin Treacy. Eoin has previously co-driven for John in WRC Mexico and Finland 2023 and will use the ARA championship to continue to build experience and further develop his co-driving skills.

John Coyne (Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy Founder)

"I'm delighted to announce my return to the American Rally Association National Championship in 2024, This will be my fourth season competing in the ARA National Championship. Thanks to my co-drivers  Stephen Joyce, Doug Nagy, Ryan Dunham, Nick Dobbs, Andres Bautista and Kenneth Quirke, we were RC2 champions in 2020 and runners up in 2019 and 2021.

Having taken a two-year break to focus on developing the MIRallyAcademy, I'm delighted to embark on a full season of US rallies again this year. I will use a Hyundai Motorsport i20N Rally2 which will be run by PCRS Rallysport.

My first event is the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood in Potosi, Missouri on March 15th and 16th.

I will be accompanied throughout the season by MIRallyAcademy co-driver Eoin Treacy. Eoin has previously co-driven for me in WRC Mexico and Finland 2023 and will use the ARA championship to continue to build experience and further develop his co-driving skills.

As Eoin had a prior commitment, co-driving for his father in the Rally Costa Brava in Spain on the 100AW weekend, Josh McErlean Rallying will stand in for this initial event, Josh, an MIRallyAcademy driver, will use this one-off appearance in the co-driver seat to expand his experience of all aspects of rallying, and to give me some much-needed, real-time, driving tuition, On his one previous event in the USA, Josh placed third overall and first RC2 in Olympus Rally 2021. He was outright fastest on the infamous 18.6 mile Wildcat stage, in a Hyundai i20N R5.

Since then, he has successfully built a career as an up-and-coming driving talent in the FIA ERC - European Rally Championship and WRC - FIA World Rally Championship.

The MIRallyAcademy, of which I am founder and patron, was established in 2019 to identify promising young Irish drivers and co-drivers, and to support them through rigorous training and experience programs, to develop the skills and discipline necessary to progress from the junior rallying ranks at home in Ireland through to competing successfully at World Rally Championship level.

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