"It was a great honour to welcome William and Liam to Parliament Buildings to celebrate their tremendous victory in the Junior World Rally Championship in 2023. William is an incredibly talented driver from Northern Ireland, and a great ambassador for local motorsport, and to win this prestigious championship against the top competition in the world is a remarkable achievement.
This incredible victory marks William out as one of the most exciting young drivers in this very competitive sport, adding to his previous Junior British Rally Championship he secured in 2021. The skill and determination he displayed, to top the championship standings after a dramatic final round in notorious Rally Greece is very worthy of celebrating, and that is why I was very pleased to invite the crew along with his family and team members to recognise this special success.
William joins an elite list of competitors from Northern Ireland who have achieved success on the world stage in Motorsport. We have a very rich and proud tradition of motorsport over many years in our country, with legendary names such as Joey Dunlop, Jonathan Rea and Kris Meeke and many more who have all enjoyed victories in global motorsport events.
William’s name has now been added to a prestigious list of names to have won the Junior WRC competition including some of the sport’s most successful drivers ever including Sébastien Loeb and Sébastien Ogier. I really wish William and Liam every success as they begin preparations for the 2024 season in the World Rally Championship, and I really believe he can go onto achieve great things in the future in rallying."