Cronin wastes no time in taking Galway Rally lead

February 3, 2024 Rallyinsight

A series of fastest stage times have given Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin a 15.6-second lead after the Galway International Rally’s opening day of action.

Cronin, who hasn’t competed in Galway since 2016, set stage one’s benchmark time on a slippery 12.3-kilometre Kilcoona test. Cronin was 1.2 seconds faster than Sam Moffett through Galway’s opener as usual Irish Tarmac frontrunners, Callum Devine and Josh Moffett, encountered early issues.

Somehow, Devine managed to set the third-fastest time on Galway’s first stage despite struggling to hear his co-driver Noel O’Sullivan over intercom interference. Josh Moffett finished stage one in fourth but was grimacing after his new Citroen C3 Rally2 was bottoming out over some severe Galway bumps and jumps.

Drama littered the field on Kilcoona – Jonny Greer’s Citroen had a puncture, Ryan Loughran felt his Ford Fiesta Rally2 was set up too soft, and the brakes on Gary Kiernan’s Fiesta had boiled.

Matt Edwards’ Galway International Rally debut came to a devastating early end on stage two. His Fiesta slid wide into a bank and clipped a rock on a slippery Caherlistrane right-hander. Steering damage meant the three-time British Rally Champion had to retire from fifth position.

The Moffett brothers had a moment apiece on Galway’s second stage. Josh slid wide on a right-hander and clipped his rear wheel on a bank, narrowly avoiding a puncture with a chunk missing from one of his Citroen’s rims.

Sam had his quick reactions to thank when he gathered up a high-speed tank-slapper after landing from an awkward jump he wasn’t expecting to be there.

A smart tyre choice by Cronin gave him a jump on his rivals on stage three. The Cork pilot went 8.6 seconds faster than Josh Moffett on the second run over Kilcoona.

Devine was a further three seconds slower as his Volkswagen Polo R5 moved around too much courtesy of the cut-slick tyres it was wearing.

Another Fiesta found itself in the wars as Loughran twice impacted stone walls on stage three. His Fiesta completed the loop without its front bumper and missing a bolt in a front wheel hub.

Loughran battled back to ninth at the end of day one – even though a wandering sheep forced him to a standstill on a fast straight on stage eight.

The roads had started to dry in Galway’s countryside but the winter muck made the conditions as treacherous as ever.

Greer became Galway’s latest victim, retiring his Citroen two junctions from the end of stage four.

Sam Moffett slipped from fourth to fifth on the 12.7-kilometre Kilbeg test. His Hyundai stalled under braking, pushing him into a wall. Thankfully for the 2017 Irish Tarmac Champion, it was a relatively gentle nudge with his Hyundai able to complete the loop albeit losing over 30 seconds to the leaders.

Desi Henry inherited Moffett’s fourth position but nearly gave it back on the next stage when he ran his Citroen up a bank. The Kilrea driver was finding his rhythm though, setting a string of top three times to complete day one in fourth overall and second in the Citroen C3 Rally2 Trophy, 6.4 seconds behind Josh Moffett.

Devine bounced back from a nightmare second loop of stages with a brave tyre choice heading into Galway’s final three Saturday stages.

Picking a hard compound tyre for the first time in the rally had Devine reap the rewards with his first stage win of the rally. It moved him into second, ahead of Josh Moffett, although he was still 19.8 seconds behind rally leader Cronin.

Josh Moffett was continuing to learn more about his new Citroen in Galway. He was still getting used to the heavy impacts over Galway’s jumps when brake fade cost him ten seconds on stage six. Combined with running too soft a tyre for the drying roads, Moffett was forced to watch his deficit to Devine widen.

A dry final stage gave Devine the optimum conditions to maximise his hard tyres before Galway’s overnight halt. The reigning Irish Tarmac Champion duly delivered, securing his second stage win of the day and taking six seconds out of the wet-tyred Fiesta of Cronin.

Still, Cronin was the man of day one as he holds a handy 15.6-second lead ahead of Sunday’s six stages.

Modifieds

Mark Alcorn and Darren Curran looked set to take a comfortable lead over their two-wheel-drive rivals into Galway’s second day of action. Their 31.9-second advantage dissipated on Saturday’s penultimate Kilbeg test, though, when Alcorn’s Ford Escort Mk2 suffered a tyre blow out in sixth gear.

Rodney Wilton benefitted from Alcorn’s woes, taking a 3.5-second modified lead over Frank Kelly into day one’s final stage.

Kelly was able to steal the advantage on Caherlistrane taking a 2.3-second lead into Sunday’s stages.

Conor Murphy was struggling to commit to his usual speed through Saturday. He ended the day in third, 20.1 seconds off Kelly’s pace.

Kevin Eves had a morning to forget in his Toyota Corolla. An overshoot into somebody’s driveway put him on the back foot on Galway’s opening stage before a hefty collision with a three-bale chicane on stage two put him out of the rally.

Rally4

Ireland’s young guns provided a top-quality battle in ITRC’s Rally4 category. Keelan Grogan and Ryan McHugh started as they meant to go – Grogan bettering the Donegal driver by a mere tenth of a second on stage one.

The duo battled back and forth through the day – McHugh had brake trouble on stage two but that was balanced out when Grogan thought he had punctured a few stages later.

McHugh held a 1.8-second lead going into Saturday’s final stage but a mega effort from Grogan put him in pole positon for Sunday holding a 3.8-second advantage over his Rally4 rival.

Cian Caldwell slipped ahead of Joseph Kelly on the same stage to grab third in the competitive class.

Historics

A big field of historic cars treated the spectators to a magnificent display of driving on Saturday.

Ray Breen utilised his Subaru Legacy’s four-wheel-drive grip to assert early dominance in the category. A lock-out of fastest times on Galway’s first four stages gave him a 53.3-second lead over Tomas and Eurig Davies’ Ford Escort RS1800.

Unfortunately for Breen, a slide into a wall on stage five cost him several minutes and dropped him back to 14th in historics.

2023 Galway Historic winner, Meirion Evans, picked up the lead, two-tenths of a second ahead of Davies’ similar Escort.

Hugh McQuaid and Declan Casey were fastest through stage five, moving within 10 seconds of Evans. McQuaid’s pace was even more impressive considering his Escort was wearing some steering damage after a front-nose landing over a big jump on stage three.

Evans punched in two rapid times to end Saturday with a 16.1-second lead over Davies.

McQuaid continues to hold third, 4.9 seconds behind Davies and one minute ahead of John O’Donnell’s speedy BMW M3.

Tom Clark had been Breen’s nearest rival after two Galway stages. Unfortunately, the diff aboard the Englishman’s Escort cried enough on the third test. Duncan Williams’ day ended on the same corner as Clark. Williams was forced to stop when his throttle was stuck open.