Frantic Fastnet thriller was Irish rallying at its best
A week has passed since Josh Moffett and Keith Moriarty successfully defended their National Rally Championship title amid challenging West Cork conditions on the Fasnet Stages Rally.
Eight stages along Ireland’s southwestern tip offered a suitably dramatic route to decide what has been a back-and-forth championship battle between Moffett and Callum Devine.
Nothing separated the two crews heading into the final round with a resurgent Devine consistently narrowing Moffett’s early championship advantage over the second half of the season.
The big question for the Fastnet was whether Moffett could halt the recent momentum gathered by the Volkswagen Polo R5 of Devine and co-driver Noel O’Sullivan.
Moffett’s switch back to his R5-spec Hyundai i20 on the Clare Stages Rally was perhaps his secret weapon. The relationship between Moffett and that ageing Hyundai will go down in Irish rallying’s history books. Few can handle a four-wheel-drive rally car at the angles Moffett fires his Hyundai through a series of corners.
But was that going to be enough to hold off Devine on the National Rally Championship’s Fastnet decider?
What made the Fastnet Stages Rally such a thriller, though, was that nothing went according to the script.
The rally was turned on its head from the first stage when Devine opted to mount soft slick tyres to his Polo when the road conditions suggested tyres with a few water-dissipating grooves would be more suitable.
It didn’t take Devine long to realise he was facing an early rally disaster. Despite his best efforts, he reached Fastnet’s halfway point with a 15.2-second deficit to title rival Moffett.
Local favourite, Daniel Cronin, ensured the Fastnet had an additional storyline to follow. He blitzed the opening stage to grab an early lead and looked set to intrude on Moffett and Devine’s 2023 National Championship dominance.
Just when it looked like Devine’s hopes were gone, things started to click. A series of fastest times slashed Moffett’s cushion to five seconds ahead of Fastnet’s final running of Mount Gabriel. The nine-kilometre test had been Devine’s ace card all day and he knew if he repeated his earlier performances a 2023 Irish Championship double was back on the cards.
As it turned out a typically Irish corner would be a sting in the tail of Devine’s almighty fightback. A greasy square-left caught out Devine and O’Sullivan as their Polo R5 acquainted itself with the adjacent ditch, ending their title hopes on the championship’s deciding stage.
Unaware of their rivals’ dramas, Moffett and Moriarty skipped home to Fastnet’s Power Stage victory, sealing a 7.4-second rally win over Devine and O’Sullivan, and securing one more championship together.
Cronin stayed in the hunt for victory on his home rally only to be caught out on the same corner as Devine. The Bantry driver went from eyeing up a Fastnet Rally win to praying his Polo would pull itself out of the time-sucking sheugh so he could at least finish the event and save his third-place finish in the National Rally Championship.
Cronin survived to tell the tale at Fastnet’s final stop control, finishing third on his local rally, and third in the championship standings.
The fast-paced championship decider extended through the modifieds, historics, and juniors with Declan Gallagher showcasing his skill to take an inspired 39-second two-wheel-drive victory.
From John Warren’s Class 13 category-clinching exploits to the topsy-turvy race for Junior honours (eventually claimed by Evan McEvoy and Ciaran O’Sullivan) – the Fastnet Stages Rally was something of a celebration of what Irish rallying is all about.
After overcoming everything that Mother Nature decided to throw Fastnet’s way last weekend, it is a credit to the organisers and volunteers who ensured we had this epic season finale to talk about.
Photos kindly provided by Philip Fitzpatrick
