Irish rallycross contenders John McCluskey and Gary Donoghue will race a pair of Honda Civic Coupe Supercars [RX1] in the 2026 rallycross campaign.

The four-wheel-drive, 600BHP Civic Coupe was originally developed between Swedish rallycross powerhouse Olsbergs MSE and Honda Performance Development in the United States for the American-based Global Rallycross Championship, in which it claimed outright event wins.

The cars have subsequently achieved success in Europe, claiming multiple RallyX event victories and a Swedish Championship title alongside racing in FIA World Rallycross Championship events, and now replace the Ford Fiesta MK7s raced by McCluskey and Donoghue in recent seasons.

Multiple motor sport title-winning outfit Murray Motorsport took delivery of the cars to its Dublin base last month and are preparing to embark on a maiden competitive outing at rounds five and six of the Irish Rallycross Championship on March 7^th-8^th at Mondello Park, beginning a season of mixed events.

The MurrayMotorsport.Com team – which runs its racing efforts alongside being operating one of Europe’s leading motorsport stores, serving customers worldwide – will then compete in the opening weekend of the Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy at Lydden Hill on Easter Bank Holiday Weekend [April 5-6], and the joint 5 Nations BRX / IRX event at Mondello Park on May [23-24].

But, the highlight of the year for Irish motorsport will be the return of the FIA European Rallycross Championship to Mondello Park on July 18-19, 30 years after top-flight rallycross last visited the Naas circuit, where both McCluskey and Donoghue target a strong run in front of what is expected to be a packed home crowd and a hugely-competitive field.

Subsequent 2026 plans will be determined following assessment of the first period of the season, but the teams desire is to take the Civics into Europe for further events in the second half of the year.

British and Irish Rallycross event-winner McCluskey has previously raced a Citroen Xsara and a Citroen C4 in rounds of the FIA European Rallycross Championship and is revelling in the opportunity to race the Civic in 2026, and the return of international competition to Ireland.

“I’m stoked to be competing in the fresher OMSE-built Honda this year. We looked at a lot of options for upgrading from our Fiestas, and we think the Civic is a good package, especially on the faster tracks,” said McCluskey, who enjoyed multiple 5 Nations BRX podiums last year. “It will be a very interesting to race the car for the first time at Mondello in March and it’s always a pleasure to race at Lydden Hill so we will be in the opening rounds of 5 Nations BRX at Easter, where we are quietly confident of a good result. Racing at Mondello in the BRX Vs IRX weekend will be really good preparation for the Euro RX round in July. Hopefully that preparation will help us when it comes to taking on the best in Europe; that weekend is going to be a huge occasion for Irish rallycross. We hope to have a good performance at that event, and then to take the cars into Europe for a round or two after that. Murray Motorsport is a great team, supported by Mountune on the engine side and with a closer collaboration with OMSE this year. Everyone involved intends on proving the Hondas can compete with the latest RX equipment.”

Donoghue, who like McCluskey started raced in rallycross on the back of a strong rally career, is a rally event-winner in America and commutes from his home in New York to compete in rallycross in Europe.

“I’ve really enjoyed my time racing in rallycross since I first drove the Fiesta a few years ago, the cars are just insane and you never get out of one without having had great craic,” said Donoghue who claimed a maiden Supercar final win in the Irish Championship last year. “The Civics are proven to be very good cars, it makes a lot of sense for us to run two cars that are exactly the same in the team and I think they will suit a lot of the circuits we go to. I’m going to be having a bit of a mixed programme myself due to personal commitments I have back home but I’m really looking forward to race the Civic in a few weeks at Mondello and of course everybody is looking forward to the European round in July. There are a huge amount of rally and rallycross fans in Ireland and I can’t wait to compete in that event.”

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