Cronin cruises to maiden West Cork Rally victory
Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin have made it two Irish Tarmac wins on the trot after sealing a well-controlled 57.2-second victory on the 2024 West Cork Rally.
The Ford Fiesta Rally2 crew impressed on Saturday morning’s wet and foggy stages, gaining a rally lead they would hold onto for the rest of the 18-stage event.
“It was a tough rally, the conditions yesterday were really tough,” described Cronin. “We had a good lead overnight which was great.
“I would like to thank all the marshals and organisers, especially for yesterday, I don’t know how people stood out in that weather.
“It is a great result for us, great for the championship, but there is still a long way to go.
“Today we were driving very much within ourselves, we had a big lead overnight so we didn’t need to push at all today, we just tried to manage the gap.”
It is Cronin’s first win on his home-county event and he hadn’t competed in the West Cork Rally since finishing runner-up to Donagh Kelly back in 2016.
The Ballylickey driver now holds a strong lead in the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship after his two wins and a retirement in West Cork for reigning champions Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan.
Devine started quickest on Clonakilty’s Friday night stages but fell behind Cronin on Saturday morning before getting a puncture on stage seven. The Volkswagen Polo driver was climbing back up the pack when he damaged his rear-left suspension on Saturday’s final stage, dropping out of the rally in fourth position.
Matt Edwards and William Creighton made it a Ford Fiesta lock-out on the West Cork Rally podium. It is the first time since 2019’s Killarney Rally of the Lakes that M-Sport’s RC2 cars have recorded a 1-2-3 on an Irish Tarmac event.
Edwards was searching for a big result in his maiden Irish Tarmac campaign after dropping points on Galway’s opener. The three-time British Rally Champion showed his title-challenging ability over West Cork’s three days and was in a prime position to capitalise on Devine’s misfortune on Saturday.
A handbrake issue gave Edwards a slight scare on Sunday morning but his real problem was resisting the temptation of pushing too hard on West Cork’s prime rally stages – Ardfield, Glandore, and Sam’s Cross. Edwards stuck to his main objective, though, finishing second, 29.2 seconds ahead of Creighton after two stage wins on Sunday.
2023 Junior World Rally Champions, Creighton and Liam Regan, would have felt the pressure as they returned to Ireland for the first time in M-Sport’s Rally2 Fiesta.
The Moira-based driver clicked with his Fiesta on Saturday’s wet stages and felt comfortable enough to battle with Irish Tarmac’s usual suspects. Creighton set three fastest times over the weekend and will take plenty of confidence into next weekend’s British Rally Championship opener.
Josh Moffett was much happier in Sunday’s dry conditions but was too far behind Creighton to challenge for third. Still, his weekend ended better than it started as he sealed the top prize in the Citroen C3 Rally2 Trophy.
Rounding out the top five, Jonny Greer finished 42.1 seconds behind Citroen rival Moffett.
Local driver David Guest retired from tenth overall on stage nine after falling off the road while under pressure from Owen Murphy behind. Jason McSweeney was another to slip off the road on Sunday. The Skoda driver was in ninth when he dropped out on the penultimate corner of West Cork’s penultimate stage.
Ryan MacHugh sealed a 47.6-second victory in West Cork’s Rally4 category. The young Donegal driver is setting a high benchmark after two ITRC victories so far this year. MacHugh set six fastest times over the weekend and his Ford Fiesta Rally4 was consistently on the pace throughout the challenging conditions.
Settling for second in class and top place in round one of the Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup, Ioan Lloyd and Sion Williams were flying once they got up to speed on the West Cork stages. The Welsh crew’s five stage wins all came after stage eight.
Cian Caldwell was in with a shout of challenging Lloyd for top Peugeot 208 Rally4 finisher but couldn’t match his pace on Sunday’s stages. Caldwell was content with his third-place finish, a solid start to his Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup campaign.
West Cork’s day one pacesetter in modifieds, Jonathan Pringle, was Kevin Eves’ closest challenger at the start of Sunday but retired on the first stage of the day, Ardfield.
Colin Byrne inherited Pringle’s runner-up spot before dropping out on stage 16. Damian Toner and JF Shovelin were left to pick up second and third in modifieds as Eves completed his Sunday drive to seal a five-minute victory in modifieds.
Tomas and Eurig Davies hung on to secure their first Historic Irish Tarmac victory since 2011’s Killarney Historic Rally. Davies extended his lead over Neil Williams and Anthony O’Sullivan on Sunday’s opening loop of three stages.
Williams was ruing his choice of tyres as they overheated halfway through Sunday’s Ardfield opener. He responded on West Cork’s final loop setting a brace of fastest times but it was too little too late as his Ford Escort RS1800 fell 11.4 seconds shy of Davies.
Wayne Evans completed the historic top three after Ray Breen dropped out of third on stage 15.
Photos by D Harrigan Images
