The Dogleap Rally will return to the forests around Limavady on Saturday 17 October 2026 with more at stake than a single day’s result. Organised by Maiden City Motor Club, the event is scheduled as the final round of the 2026 Northern Ireland Forest Rally Challenge and the eighth round of the Trailer Parts & Spares Irish Forest Rally Championship, giving the County Derry fixture a major role in the closing weeks of the gravel season.
Entries are already being accepted for the event, which is listed by RallyScore as the 2026 Premier Parts Dogleap Rally. Motorsport UK’s permit calendar shows the Dogleap as an active Interclub stage rally in the 30-to-55-mile category, while Motorsport Ireland lists the event for 17 October as a National Forestry Championship round. Maiden City Motor Club has also confirmed that the Dogleap is returning to the forest in October, bringing one of Northern Ireland’s established loose-surface events back into the spotlight.
Dogleap is the NI Forest Challenge finale
The Northern Ireland Forest Rally Challenge has been built around four scheduled rounds in 2026: Fivemiletown on 28 February, the Lakeland Stages on 5 September, the Bushwhacker on 19 September and the Dogleap on 17 October. The Association of Northern Ireland Motor Clubs lists two reserve dates in November, but Dogleap remains the scheduled final championship round.
That makes the Limavady event particularly important for crews chasing the 2026 gravel title. A Northern Ireland report from the British Rally Marshals Club after the Bushwhacker put David Condell on 76 points and Mark Donnelly on 61, with Condell leading the challenge heading towards the Dogleap finale. The same report placed reigning Northern Ireland Rally Champion Jonny Greer fifth in the Forest Challenge standings.
The exact permutations will depend on the championship’s scoring and eligibility rules, but the points position means the Dogleap is not simply another autumn forest rally. It is the event at which the Northern Ireland gravel championship is expected to be settled.
Irish Forest Rally Championship also reaches its final round
Dogleap has another layer of significance because it also forms round eight of the 2026 Irish Forest Rally Championship. The championship calendar stretches across both sides of the border, beginning with the Yeats Ridge Forest Rally in February before visiting the Moonraker, Willie Loughman, Jim Walsh Cork Forest Rally, Lakeland Stages, Bushwhacker and the new Laois Forest Rally. Dogleap is listed as the eighth and final round.
That cross-border position is important. Northern Ireland’s forest events are not isolated club fixtures: Lakeland, the Bushwhacker and Dogleap all sit within a wider gravel championship structure that brings leading crews from across Ireland into the same competitive field. For local spectators, it creates the possibility of seeing Northern Ireland championship contenders fight directly with crews chasing national forest honours.
Recent form points to a serious Rally2 fight
The most recent Northern Ireland forest round, the Bushwhacker Rally in September, showed the strength of the current gravel field. Josh Moffett and Andy Hayes won in their Hyundai i20 R5 after a tight battle, beating Mark Donnelly and Martin Brady by 4.6 seconds. Jordan and Paul Hone were third, while David Condell and Michael Coady finished fourth in their Skoda.
The Bushwhacker entry itself underlined the depth of machinery now competing on Northern Ireland gravel. Its leading crews included Skoda Fabia R5 and RS Rally2 cars, a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, Hyundai i20 R5, Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 and Ford Fiesta Rally2 machinery. That mix of current and previous-generation Rally2/R5 cars has become a defining feature of the front of the field.
Jonny Greer and Niall Burns also contested the Bushwhacker in their Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. After problems early in the event they recovered to seventh overall, having already taken third on the Lakeland Stages a few weeks earlier. Their presence adds another major Northern Ireland name to the wider 2026 forest-rally picture.
David Condell carries the NI points advantage
Condell’s championship position makes him one of the key names to watch as Dogleap approaches. He and Michael Coady have campaigned a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 during the season and have accumulated the strongest points total reported after the Bushwhacker. Condell and Coady finished ninth on the final Bushwhacker classification, but their championship total still left them leading the Northern Ireland Forest Rally Challenge heading towards Dogleap.
Donnelly, meanwhile, has shown outright winning pace throughout the year. He was one of the main protagonists on the Bushwhacker and finished only 4.6 seconds behind Moffett. With Dogleap carrying final-round status, the gap in the Northern Ireland standings ensures that every championship point could matter.
There is also a wider competitive question over which crews will commit to the event. Entries are live, but the final seeded list can change significantly before rally week. PureCar will therefore treat the official entry and seeding information as the definitive guide once organisers publish the final version rather than assuming that every championship contender will start.
What happened at Dogleap in 2025?
Last year’s Dogleap produced a notable local victory. Niall Devine and Liam McIntyre won the 2025 event in a Volkswagen Polo GTI R5, leading from start to finish and setting the fastest time on four of the six stages. It was Devine’s first overall rally victory and carried a family connection: his father Sean had won the Dogleap in 2009.
Gareth Mimnagh and J Barry McCarney finished second in a Ford Fiesta Rally2, 12.2 seconds behind the winners, with Alan Smyth and Martin Brady taking third in another Fiesta Rally2. Sam Stewart and Alan Johnston were the leading two-wheel-drive crew in a Ford Escort Mk2.
The 2025 event used three gravel tests repeated twice: Loughermore West, Loughermore East and Cam, with the six stages totalling 28.02 competitive miles. Rally headquarters and service were based at the Shackleton Complex in Ballykelly. Those details provide useful historical context, but spectators and competitors should not assume the same stage configuration will be used in 2026. The current event regulations, Sportity information and organiser notices should be treated as the authority for this year’s route and access arrangements.
A compact Northern Ireland gravel season
The 2026 NI Forest Rally Challenge has had a compact four-round schedule, which increases the value of every finish. Fivemiletown opened the season in February, where Niall McGonigle and Caolan McKenna won in a Volkswagen Polo GTI R5. The championship then resumed after the summer with the Lakeland Stages in Fermanagh and the Bushwhacker in Tyrone before heading to Dogleap.
The structure puts three of the four rounds in a six-week autumn window. That creates a very different challenge from a championship spread evenly across the year: crews have less time between events to repair cars, source parts, manage budgets and prepare pacenotes, while a retirement late in the season can have an immediate effect on the title fight.
It also makes Northern Ireland an important part of the wider Irish forestry calendar. The Irish Forest Rally Championship identifies itself as an eight-round gravel series contested on both sides of the border, and Dogleap is the final stop on that calendar.
What is confirmed for the 2026 Dogleap Rally?
- Date: Saturday 17 October 2026.
- Organiser: Maiden City Motor Club.
- Area: Limavady, County Derry, with event listings also identifying Ballykelly.
- Surface: gravel/forest stage rallying.
- NI status: final scheduled round of the 2026 Northern Ireland Forest Rally Challenge.
- Irish championship status: round eight of the 2026 Irish Forest Rally Championship.
- Permit status: listed as an active Motorsport UK Interclub stage rally in the 30-to-55-mile category.
- Entries: the online entry process is live through RallyScore.
British Rally Marshals Club information for the event says the 2026 Dogleap is planned around eight gravel stages, with four tests run twice in County Derry. Competitors and spectators should still use the final organiser regulations, Sportity notices and seeded entry list for the definitive timetable, stage details and access information because operational information can change before rally day.
Why the Dogleap matters for Northern Ireland motorsport
Forest rallying occupies a distinctive place in Northern Ireland motorsport. The closed-road tarmac rallies often attract the largest general audience, but the gravel championship demands a different driving style and a different approach to car set-up. Grip levels change rapidly, braking points move as the surface cuts up, and crews must manage loose gravel, ruts and changing road conditions over repeated runs.
Dogleap also gives the north-west another significant motorsport date. Maiden City Motor Club’s involvement, the Limavady setting and the use of the wider Ballykelly area give the event a strong local identity, while its place in both Northern Ireland and all-Ireland championship calendars broadens the entry and interest beyond County Derry.
For PureCar Motorsport, the 2026 event will be followed as a developing story rather than treated as a single preview. The next major updates should be the final entry list and seeding, confirmed event and spectator information, the championship position immediately before the start, and then stage-by-stage and final results once the rally takes place.
What happens next?
The immediate focus is on the developing entry list. RallyScore is already carrying the 2026 Premier Parts Dogleap Rally entry system, while rally information services have begun listing the event and linking competitors to regulations and Sportity documentation.
As the event moves closer, the final seeded entry should reveal how many of the leading Rally2 and R5 crews from the Lakeland and Bushwhacker rounds will make the trip to Limavady. The most important local storyline will be the Northern Ireland Forest Rally Challenge title fight, with David Condell holding the reported points advantage after the Bushwhacker and Mark Donnelly among the principal challengers.
The Dogleap Rally takes place on Saturday 17 October 2026. PureCar Motorsport will update its coverage when the final entry, seeding and event information are confirmed.