Cronin puncture hands Devine Killarney Lakes lead
Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan head into Killarney Rally of the Lakes’ decisive Sunday stages with a 22-second lead.
The reigning Irish Tarmac Rally champions looked set to have to settle for a runner-up finish in Killarney after Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin shot into the distance on Saturday’s Beara Peninsula stages.
Cronin, who leads the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship after three rounds, had built an impressive 33.3-second advantage after six Rally of the Lakes tests. The Ford Fiesta Rally2 driver looked invincible with five fastest times on the bounce, including a searing 18.2-second stage win on the endless Ardgroom bends.
A nick to Cronin’s front-left tyre on the repeated running of Ardgroom resulted in a slow puncture and cost him over two minutes to his rivals. The Galway and West Cork Rally winner jumped back onto stage-winning pace on Saturday’s closing Kilmakilloge test to climb into fifth overall, one minute and 42 seconds off rally leader Devine.
Devine started the day with the fastest time on Moll’s Gap although he slipped behind Cronin on the next Healy Pass test. The two-time Rally of the Lakes winner struggled to find his usual pace as his hard compound tyres couldn’t get up to optimum temperature on Saturday’s midday loop of stages.
Additional cuts to the same compound of tyres ahead of Saturday’s final loop of three stages helped Devine find more grip and confidence as he moved into the lead and extended his advantage over second-placed Matt Edwards.
Edwards and co-driver David Moynihan made their Moll’s Gap debut together on stage one. The lack of experience resulted in a 12.1-second deficit to Devine. The Welshman started to close in on Devine with two second-fastest times on Healy Pass and the epic Cod’s Head.
The Ford Fiesta driver’s momentum stalled on the next Ardgroom stage, though, when he got stuck behind Cronin’s punctured Fiesta for several seconds on the narrow Beara roads. Pop-off valve issues cost Edwards more time on Kilmakilloge as he finished his first day rallying in Killarney 22 seconds off the lead.
Eddie Doherty and Tom Murphy completed Rally of the Lakes’ opening day in third overall, 13.5 seconds behind Edwards. Doherty was in fine form, showing serious promise on his first year aboard a Rally2 car.
The Kilkenny pilot consistently set top times despite his Skoda suffering from pop-off valve problems throughout the day of tight competition.
Jonny Greer and Niall Burns hold fourth overall, 32.3 seconds ahead of the hard-charging Cronin while Enda O’Brien finished a solid day in sixth.
Local modified ace Colin O’Donoghue leads two-wheel-drive but had to manage a flailing alternator in the second half of day one. Class 12 driver Sean Moynihan is flying in second after early modified leader Conor Murphy retired ahead of stage three and Chris Armstrong hit mechanical problems shortly after.
8.6 seconds separates Killarney’s top three Rally4 crews after an intense day of front-wheel-drive action.
Ryan MacHugh jumped into the class lead with the fastest time on Saturday’s penultimate Ardgroom test. Ioan Lloyd had been leading up until then but slipped to third behind Keelan Grogan on the same 18.5-kilometre stage. MacHugh holds a 4.3-second overnight advantage over Grogan with Lloyd a further 4.3 seconds back.
Meirion Evans and Anthony O’Sullivan have a 4.4-second lead in the Rally of the Lakes’ historic category. The Welshman jumped into the lead with a stunning time on stage seven, 15.4 seconds faster than Fergus O’Meara and Declan Casey’s similar Ford Escort RS1800.
Alan Ring had been leading the category in his BMW M3 but finished day one in second. A brace of fastest times on Killarney’s opening loop gave O’Meara an early 3.7-second category lead but slipped back through the day to end Saturday 9.9 seconds off Evans’ pace.
Photos by D Harrigan Images
