Former British and Irish Rallycross Championship event-winner John McCluskey will return to the Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy in 2024 for an assault on the title.

Irishman McCluskey returned to a rallycross Supercar last season after a hiatus of 14 years. Having switched from rallying, in which he claimed the Irish Group N National Tarmac series crown, McCluskey raced a Peugeot 306 Supercar and Citroen Xsara Supercar in 5 Nations BRX events in the first decade of the new millennium, claiming three outright victories at Mondello Park, Knockhill and Lydden Hill respectively.

Having finished third overall in the 2004 and 2005 British campaigns, he most recently raced a Citroen C4 in the European Rallycross Championship in 2008.

Securing an OlsbergsMSE-built Ford Fiesta Supercar – a machine raced by Jack Thorne to a British Rallycross podium at Lydden Hill and subsequently rebuilt by Andrew Jordan’s JRT team – McCluskey returned to the Irish Rallycross Championship last season with Murray Motorsport, and joined 5 Nations BRX Supercar runners in joint events at Mondello Park and Pembrey.

He will now contest a full joint campaign of the Irish and British series this year with eyes on the biggest prizes, and is the first big name Supercar driver to be announced for the 10-round 2024 5 Nations BRX campaign.

McCluskey – who joined 5 Nations BRX Supercar drivers performing in the Autosport International Live Action Arena last weekend in Birmingham – is due to be joined by other Irish drivers in 5 Nations BRX this season, who will be announced in due course.

The opening round of 5 Nations BRX takes place at Lydden Hill on Easter Bank Holiday Weekend (Mar 30 - April 1).

John McCluskey:

“I’m loving being back in rallycross. Last year was just about getting ourselves back into it, blowing the cobwebs off and seeing how we got on, this year though we’re going hell for leather to try and pick up one title, either the Irish or the British. This car is a bit different to what I had in the past, the (Hansen Motorsport) Xsara we had was top of the pops when we had it, but it’s all about the marginal improvements in that time, and we’re improving the Fiesta more at the moment too.

It will be really nice to race in the British Championship again, I’m really looking forward to it and especially racing at Lydden Hill – I love it there. The pace is very quick, but I think we’ll be able to be in the mix. We won finals last year in Ireland, so it’s just about getting everything together. You need reliability and luck too, and Murray Motorsport are really helping me with things I never would have focused on before.”

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