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Dacia Sandero Challenge Cup 2026

Round 1 Mayo Stages Rally

DACIA SANDERO CHALLENGE CUP 2026 ROUND 2

BIRR STAGES RALLY

WINNERS ROUND 2 Cillian Doherty & Lauren Doherty

48:49.7

SECOND ROUND 2 Anthony O’Halloran & Cian Lynch

48:52.3

THIRD ROUND 2 Liam Doherty & Sean Boyle

49:02.1

ROUND 3 CARLOW STAGES RALLY 2026

With Monaghan Stages Rally postponed due to fuel protests and rescheduled to August, The Carlow Stages Rally slotted in to become Round 3 of The Triton National Rally Championship and The dacia Sandero Challenge Cup Championship.

As with all rounds to date in 2026, the weather played havoc with competitors, with monsoon like conditions. Everything from sunshine to dull to blustery windy conditions and torential rain showers and back to sunshine.

Despite the weather, it was a great weekend for the Dacia Competitors, which started off on the Sunday morning with a reception laid on by the local Dacia Dealership in Carlow Town, Auto Image Dacia, owned by the Pratt family. So, a huge THANK YOU to Davin Pratt and all the Pratt family for the warm welcome to Carlow.

The Rally itself was again a very tight affair with the lead swapping between competitors all day. On this occasion, Anthony O’Halloran, with Cian Lynch on the notes had bad look, and on Loc 2 on their first stage, went off. This left Cillian Doherty/Lauren Doherty to battle it out with Evan Stapleton/Eddie Byrne for the win. After a push on the final stage, it was Evan Stapleton with Eddie Byrne on the notes who came out on top and took the win. This was the first podium finish, let alone a win, for Evan and Eddie, So, onwards and upwards guys. Cillian Doherty with his sister Lauren Doherty on the notes took 2nd place and Caolan Doyle with Rory Doyle on the notes took 3rd place.

With some new names in the Championship putting in some quick times on the stages, things are about to get very interesting in our championship going forward. Next, sees The Dacia Sandero Challenge Cup Championship, head to Limerick for The Circuit of Munster Stages Rally on Sunday 30th May. Drop in and have a look if you are around.

WINNERS IN CARLOW

EVAN STAPLETON / EDDIE BYRNE

ROUND 4 CIRCUIT OF MUNSTER STAGES RALLY

Round 4 saw The Dacia Sandero Challenge Cup crews travel to Limerick for The Circuit of Munster Stages Rally on Sunday 30th May, Finally, the weather played ball with us and we were treated to some tricky and technical stages. with communions, confirmations and a couple of crews doing their leaving cert, we were back to 12 crews for this event.

The event was run out of The Annacotty Bussiness Park , which was an amazeing venue with HQ, Scrutiny, Parc Ferme and Service all in the one location. Well done to Limerick MC and IPS Packageing for organising this. it was great to see some new crews out again on this event. As usual, our crews started on Stage 4 and it took a bit of time for them to find their rhythem. Once they settled in, the times began to come in and with only a couple of seconds seperating the top four, it made for a very interesting last few stages. If we needed proof, that these crews do put on a great show out on the stages, we lost four cars due to off’s, but thankfully, no one was hurt .

Like the last round in Carlow defending Champion Cillian Doherty with Lauren his sister, on the notes, was not getting it all his own way. After his first win and podium position in Carlow, Evan Stapleton with Eddie Byrne on the notes, seems to have found their Mojo and piled on the pressure on Cillian and over the last two stages, took the win again. So, it finished up with Anthony O’Halloran/Cian Lynch in 3rd, Cillian Doherty/ Lauren Doherty in 2nd and Evan Stapleton/Eddie Byrne in 1st place. Round 5 takes us to The Premier County for The Tipperary Motor Club Stonethrowers Stages Rally on 19th July next, based out of Clonmel. Co. Tipperary. See you all there.

ROUND 5 MONAGHAN STAGES RALLY

Round 5 should have seen us go to Tipperary for The Stonethrowers Stages Rally, but this time , the weather threw a major heatwave at us. Melting tar meant that Tipperary Motor Club had no choice but to postpone the event. So, instead, Round 5 moved to Monaghan for the rescheduled event from earlier in the season,(Postponed due to fuel protests).

Monaghan Motor Club put on a great event, with some fast tricky stages. The event was based in Monaghan Town, with the service area in The fantastic CombiLift premices. Again, as we have been saying all season, The Dacia Sandero Challenge Cup lived up to it’s reputation, with some very close racing and stage times. This event was one of the toughest on the mighty little Sanderos with only 5 cars making it home to the finish ramp, testament as to how hard these drivers are pushing these little cars.

Again, as is the pattern throughout 2026, the main battle was between Evan Stapleton with Eddie Byrne on the notes, and Cillian & Lauren Doherty. The two crews swapped stage wins all day and were pushed hard by Jake & Jack Devine. Cillian & lauren pushed a little too hard on the last stage, and a spin towards the end of the stage lost them valuable seconds. It finished up with Evan and Eddie taking the win.

1st Evan Stapleton/ Eddie Byrne (47:10.4), 2nd Cillian Doherty/ Lauren Doherty (47:22.3) and

3rd Jake Devine/ Jack Devine ( 47:41.7 ), 4th Anthony O’Halloran/ Cian Lynch ( 47:44.4)

This result closes the gap to 1 point in the overall Dacia Championship between Cillian Doherty and Evan

Stapleton and makes for a very exciting finish to the year. Next on to Galway for the Galway Summer Rally for Round 6 at the end of August..

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ROUND 6 GALWAY SUNNER RALLY

Round 6 sees us visit Ballinasloe for The Galway Summer Rally. Things could not be closer at the top of The Dacia Sandero Challenge Cup Championship, with only 1 point seperating Cillian Doherty and Evan Stapleton for the top spot. What has also been very gratafying is the fact that a different crew has been challenging for a podium position on the last few events, some of which being their first time ever on any podium within rallying. Anthony O’Halloran is always there or there abouts, The Devine’s in Monaghan taking 3rd and now Ulick Burke taking 2nd in Galway. This bodes very well for the future and will keep the front runners grounded and on their toes.

Thankfully, the weather played ball with us in Galway and was mostly dry, giving the Dacia crews a chance to push these mighty little cars to the limit. Close racing was once again on show on the tight tricky stages. However, some delays on the stages meant that we lost some of the later stages due to off’s and running out of road closed time. It was great to see Ulick Burke with Garret Burke on the notes, pick up their first ever podium finish in the Dacia Cup, taking a hard earned 2nd place and putting some daylight between Doherty and Stapleton.

it finished, 1st Cillian Doherty/ Lauren Doherty (29:51.2), 2nd Ulick Burke/ Garret Burke (29:54.6)

3rd Evan Stapleton/ Eddie Byrne ( 29:59.6) , 4th Anthony O’Halloran/ Cian Lynch ( 30:01.3).

This result opens up a 5 point gap again between Cillian Doherty in 1st and Evan Stapleton in 2nd place in the Championship. It’s all to play for in Round 7, The Donegal Summer Rally on october 10th and in Tipperary on October 25th for the rescheduled fixture from July.

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