Devine seals third Killarney Rally of the Lakes in a row

May 5, 2024 Rallyinsight

Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan kept their cool to take a vital Rally of the Lakes victory, their third Killarney crown in as many years.

The reigning Irish Tarmac Rally champions started Sunday’s stages with a 14.4-second lead over Matt Edwards and David Moynihan after long-term rally leader Keith Cronin punctured on Saturday’s penultimate test.

Devine increased his advantage over Edwards to 15.5 seconds on Sunday’s first two stages before the Welshman took the bit between his teeth on the subsequent Killarney tests.

Improved efforts on Ballintourig, Gortnagane, and the fastest time on Meentoges put Edwards within 8.7 seconds of Devine with one stage to go.

Another fastest time on Killarney’s Ballintourig decider wasn’t enough to usurp Devine, however, as the Claudy driver refocused to take a 7.9-second Rally of the Lakes win.

It is Devine’s first victory of 2024 and the Volkswagen Polo R5 man will hope it reignites his Irish Tarmac campaign heading into June’s Donegal International Rally.

Eddie Doherty and Tom Murphy recorded their first Irish Tarmac podium finish on the two-day event. They finished just over a minute off Devine’s winning pace and will have been relieved to resist the hard-charging Ford Fiesta Rally2 of Cronin and Mikie Galvin.

Irish Tarmac Championship leader Cronin was in a different league over most of Killarney’s 14 stages. The Ballylickey driver won a total of 10 stages and continued to show his world-class talent after Saturday’s rally-defining puncture.

Cronin was fastest on Sunday’s first four stages, helping him climb up to fourth overall. With third place too far out of reach, the Ford flyer opted to dial back his speed and collect valuable points for his title hopes.

Jonny Greer and Niall Burns completed Killarney’s top five in their Citroen C3 Rally2. They started the day in fourth but quickly came under pressure from Cronin. A puncture on stage ten confirmed their fate but reset themselves to hold onto fifth.

Finishing sixth, David Kelly and Dean O’Sullivan drove remarkably well on Killarney’s six Sunday stages. Kelly set four top three stage times to climb up from eighth. The Donegal driver was hunting down Cathan McCourt when the latter slid into a bank on stage 12, Gortnagane.

Ioan Lloyd was another driver to excel on Sunday’s inland stages. The Welshman jumped from third in Rally4 to first on day two’s opening test – a lead he would keep for the rest of the rally.

Such was the pace of the Rally4 crews, Lloyd’s class win also returned 13th overall and second-fastest two-wheel-drive car.

A brace of stage wins on Ballintourig and Gortnagane kept Ryan MacHugh on Lloyd’s tail. Unfortunately for MacHugh, contact with a bank on Killarney’s penultimate test closed over his Ford Fiesta Rally4’s exhaust and the resultant power loss cost him 30 seconds.

Keelan Grogan benefitted from MacHugh’s woes to steal second place from his Rally4 rival, eventually finishing 26.7 seconds behind class winner Lloyd.

Cian Caldwell had been in the hunt for a Rally4 podium finish but his Peugeot 208 ran out of road on stage 12’s penultimate corner.

After gearbox drama on Saturday, Kyle McBride and Darragh Mullen upped their pace on Sunday to seal fourth in the front-wheel-drive category.

With a big overnight lead, Colin and Kevin O’Donoghue had the rare luxury of cruising home to confirm their victory in Killarney’s National category. The local crew finished one minute and 25 seconds ahead of Sean Moynihan and Padraig O’Donovan’s Ford Escort Mk2.

Moynihan’s runner-up spot came under immense pressure on Sunday’s fast stages. His Class 12 Escort was in an unlikely position after a tremendous drive over Saturday’s Beara Peninsula tests.

Moynihan just about managed to stay ahead of Damian Toner’s Class 14 Ford Escort to seal a magical second in modifieds and 16th overall.

Toner was driving with style on Sunday although a clip against a three-bale chicane reminded him not to get too reckless, especially as he tackles the Manx Rally later this week. The Armagh driver made it to the end of the 14-stage event taking his second top points score of the year in McEvoy Motorsport Modified ITRC.

Frank Kelly put his championship rival under pressure at the start of Killarney’s second day. A stage win on Meentoges had Kelly within 1.2 seconds of Toner but his rally came under threat when he hit a bridge on Gortnagane. The stage ended up being cancelled so Kelly managed to patch up his famous Ford Escort without losing any time and completed the rally fifth in modifieds.

Vincent O’Shea’s Darrian T90 slipped ahead of Kelly on the final stage to seal fourth.

In Historics, Alan Ring and Adrian Deasy secured a home win in their fabulous BMW M3. Ring started the day 4.4 seconds behind Meirion Evans and Anthony O’Sullivan’s Ford Escort but struck 1.5 seconds off their advantage on Sunday’s Gortnagane opener.

Evans’ lead was under pressure and the Welshman got caught out on a loose-surface corner on the next test. The resultant damage put him out of the rally and handed Ring a 40-second lead he would only extend throughout the remaining stages.

Fergus O’Meara and Declan Casey were second but succumbed to the powerful challenge of Ray Breen and Damien Morrissey’s Subaru Legacy.

The Legacy was loving the dry conditions as Breen stormed up to second after four fastest times on the bounce.

Mark Falvey and Duncan Williams completed the top five in a Ford Escort RS1600 and RS1800 respectively.

Ronan Dorrian sealed his first Junior win of the year as a lockout of stage wins gave him a one-minute Class 16 victory over Barry McIntyre.