Edwards grabs epic Circuit of Ireland Rally win
Matt Edwards and David Moynihan sealed their first Irish Tarmac Rally Championship victory on mixed weather Circuit of Ireland Rally. Edwards overcame Irish Tarmac’s 2024 pacesetter Keith Cronin to take a skillful 14.4-second win.
The Ford Fiesta Rally2 duo kicked off the day with a fastest time on Drummond. The sun was out across the County Tyrone stages although a host of wet sections littered the early stages after a week of heavy rain.
Four-tenths of a second was Edwards’ minuscule advantage over Cronin after stage one. Defending Circuit of Ireland winner Callum Devine was seven seconds back in third after his Volkswagen Polo R5 cut out for a few seconds after a heavy landing on the bumpy stage.
1.6 seconds covered the top three crews on stage two, a mud-ridden 14.5 kilometres through The Hollow. Cronin went fastest to move 0.6 seconds ahead of Edwards with Devine remaining on the fringes of the top two in third.
Josh Moffett had a close encounter with a herd of cattle on the Circuit of Ireland’s second test. The two-time Irish Tarmac Champion lost 30 seconds as he chased them down the road in his Citroen C3 Rally. Moffett’s time was amended before the end of the event.
The drama continued on stage three, Sweathouse, as third-placed Devine slid wide and clipped a rock three kilometres from the end on one of the Circuit’s many slippery corners.
Cronin punched in his second stage win to extend his lead to 1.9 seconds as Moffett moved into third after Devine’s demise.
The rally story took another turn on the final stage of Saturday morning’s loop as Edwards went fastest to move within two-tenths of Cronin. It was all to play for at the Circuit of Ireland’s halfway point.
Jonny Greer punched in the third-fastest time on stage four and remained fourth overall, 6.2 seconds behind Moffett. Desi Henry was the third-placed Citroen C3 Rally2 but was struggling with the constantly changing grip conditions in fifth overall.
Garry Jennings and Cathan McCourt were all hunting Henry down for fifth but a puncture for Jennings on stage four cost him a minute and dropped behind McCourt into seventh.
The sun was blazing over the countryside south of Dungannon as the leading crews left the Circuit of Ireland’s midday service halt.
Galway and West Cork winner Keith Cronin utilised all the grip on offer in Drummond to punch in his third stage win of the day, 4.5 seconds faster than Edwards.
Out of nowhere the clouds burst and a heavy hail shower completely changed the conditions for the next test, The Hollow.
Edwards pulled an ace out of his pocket as he bolted two spare wet tyres onto his Fiesta for the upcoming slippery stage.
The move worked as the Welshman went 10.6 seconds quicker than Cronin to move into a 5.9-second rally lead.
Stage six was momentarily stopped when Greer dropped out near the start of the tricky test. Henry and McCourt inherited fourth and fifth respectively as a result of Greer’s retirement.
Edwards set the pace again on the Circuit of Ireland’s penultimate test although he did well to survive a scare over a jump when his Fiesta brushed along a hedge as it came back to the road surface.
Stuck on his cut slicks, Cronin struggled to keep his tyres up to temperature through the regular patches of water on the stage.
A fifth and final stage win on the Circuit of Ireland’s decider was enough for Matt Edwards and David Moynihan to seal their first win in Ireland since the 2021 Ulster Rally.
Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin retain their Irish Tarmac Rally Championship lead after finishing second on the Circuit as Josh Moffett and Andy Hayes completed the rally’s top three.
Cathan McCourt was delighted to finish fourth overall with his times progressively getting closer to the frontrunners through the day.
Desi Henry had been fourth until he slid his Citroen C3 into a fence on the Circuit’s final stage. That allowed Jennings to seal fifth overall and two-wheel-drive winner Jason Black to finish an incredible sixth overall.
Black held a 29.6-second lead over Mark Alcorn’s Ford Escort Mk2 with one stage to go after a jump start on stage five cost the latter ten seconds.
A puncture on the Circuit’s final stage almost spoiled Black’s day, though, when the front-right tyre on his Toyota Starlet went flat with five kilometres to go.
The Armagh driver just about managed to hang onto his lead, finishing 3.1 seconds ahead of Alcorn.
Damian Toner completed modified’s top three in his Ford Escort Mk2.
Photos by D Harrigan Images
