Last weekend, Junior driver Jonny Leonard was awarded with the 2010 Hankook Junior Driver Prize at the annual Northern Ireland Rally Championship award ceremony. The Ballinamallard driver defeated a field of strong competition to take the lucrative prize of a fully paid drive at the 2011 IRC Ypres Rally in Belgium courtesy of Hankook Tyres.

The Hankook Junior Prize is a season long competition whereby drivers under the age of 26 are continuously judged on their driving ability, results, team work, presentation and media skills. Included in the Junior Rally program during 2010 were two Junior Driver training days whereby all competitors and their navigators underwent training courses in media skills, PR, team building and rally navigation.

As the inaugural champion for this prize Jonny’s performance was praised by the judges of the competition and championship sponsors Hankook Tyres. Niall Murray, Managing Director of Hankook Ireland acknowledged the efforts of the Junior class of 2010 and in particular, winner Jonny Leonard.

“The 2010 Junior Prize Drive has been a huge success story. During the course of the season we saw an enormously talented pool of young drivers perform impeccably both in terms of their driving, presentation and  representation of their sponsors. Jonny’s performance demonstrated everything that the judges were looking for in a Junior Champion and as an ambassador for the Northern Ireland Rally Championship and Hankook Tyres. We wish Jonny and Jackie the very best of luck with their drive in the IRC Ypres Rally”.

The IRC Ypres Rally takes place on the weekend of June 24th. Renowned for extremely fast asphalt stages, you will be able to track Jonnys progress right here on Hankook.ie.