A Norwegian adventure of a lifetime awaits for one of Ireland’s brightest young Rally talents as Daniel Ormond has secured a place at the legendary John Haugland Winter Rally School thanks to the Craig Breen Foundation.

For the sixteen-year-old Clonmel star, the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of the sport’s biggest names comes as a result of an incredible year to date competing in the Junior 1000 class of the Trailer Parts & Spares Irish Forest Rally Championship, the sole national feeder series in Europe that sees future talent allowed to being competing on full distance rally events from 14 under the guidance of an experienced navigator.

Having made his debut on the 2023 Carrick-on-Suir Willie Loughman Forest Rally barely a month after his 14th Birthday, Daniel Ormond really began to impress across his debut season in 2024 competing in a Citroen C1, before moving on to a VW Up for 2025 and into 2026.

Guided expertly by navigator Mairead Duane, the 2026 season has been remarkable for Ormond. An opening 4th place finish on the Sligo based Yeats Ridge Forest Rally would be followed by a breakout victory a few weeks later on the Moonraker Forest Rally. On a high attrition event, Daniel Ormond returned to the Dungarvan finish ramp with over 40 seconds to spare over the J1000 field, becoming the latest young star to add his name to an illustrious event winning roll of honour.

A hard fought second place on the Jim Walsh Cork Forest Rally would see Ormond secure a spot on the Craig Breen Foundation sponsored trip to Norway in January, as well as holding a sizeable advantage in the Championship standings heading to the season ending Laois Forest Rally in October.

Seeing the success of the Junior 1000 series and the talent it has produced, Irish WRC star Craig Breen came on board to sponsor the series in 2023 as a way to support the grassroots of the sport and develop talent right at its infancy. Following his passing, the Craig Breen Foundation has worked with partners like Hyundai Motorsport, Sports & You, Hyundai Portugal, Hyundai Spain and Motorsport Ireland to continue his legacy.

Since 2024, the foundation has given vouchers to J1000 competitors across every event, branded merchandise for the drivers, funding packages to the championship top-3 as well as a number of truly special once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Craig, and numerous stars of world rallying, have learned hugely from the mythical John Haugland and his Winter Rally School, and the Foundation have to date taken five J1000 stars, Tommy Moffett in 2024, Oisin McShane & Ross Ryan in 2025 and James McShea & Kyle Drury in 2026, to Norway.

Beyond the Norway trip, the coming weeks will see 2025 J1000 champion James McShea travel to Portugal to become a part of the Sports & You team on a round of the Portuguese championship and competing in a Hyundai i20 Cup car, while a Pacenote development session with 5-time WRC event winner Paul Nagle is also in the works.

McShea has been setting remarkable times in his debut season in a Class 2A Peugeot 208 R2, battling a fellow Craig Breen Foundation prize winner Oisin McShane right across the season, while Drury had to wait a while to make his debut at the same level and has really impressed on his initial outings.

The race to join Ormond in Norway is tight heading to the final event of the season, with Matthew Wray and Conor Fogarty currently sitting second and third in the standings but a host of fellow young stars lie just a handful of points off the coveted championship podium.