Devine hoping to go one better in 2025 Galway Rally
Callum Devine will kick-start his latest Irish Tarmac Rally Championship campaign on February’s Galway International Rally. The 2023 champion finished last year tied on points with Keith Cronin, missing out on the title as Cronin won his first round earlier in the season.
The Skoda Fabia Rally2 ace finished second to Cronin in Galway 12 months ago, a result that Devine was happy with at the time.
“Galway hasn’t been one of our strongest events over the years,” Devine told Rally Insight. “Keith was very fast there last year in the Fiesta and we were pretty content that we had a good run over the two days to finish behind him.
“It is nice to get on top of a difficult event like Galway, the conditions and terrain are fairly unique at that time of year.
“The aim now is to go one better this time around.”
A pair of non-finishes on the West Cork Rally and the Circuit of Ireland stunted Devine and co-driver Noel O’Sullivan’s early Irish Tarmac progress last year.
They quickly bounced back, though, with wins in Killarney and Donegal. A further win on Irish Tarmac’s Cork 20 finale brought his tally of ITRC event wins to eight since the start of 2022.
“The competition at the front of Irish Tarmac events has been brilliant since the championship came back in 2022.
“We have had some tight battles with Josh [Moffett], Meirion [Evans], and Ali [Fisher]. To have Matt [Edwards] and Keith [Cronin] come in last year and bring that level up again was a nice challenge as well.
“We are lucky to have so many top drivers in the championship that can be fighting for wins on any of the rounds.”
Devine will switch his race suit for a more formal version in 2025 as he prepares for his wedding. The 30-year-old “will get Galway in” beforehand but admitted he will likely miss a round or two before returning to action.
Still, he intends to register for the championship and given his pace aboard the Skoda Fabia will surely find himself in the title hunt when dropped scores are considered.
As for the Skoda, Devine is happy that his final two victories last year set him up nicely for Galway’s typically wet and mucky stages.
“We haven’t made many changes to the car,” said Devine.
“It has been more important to get to grips with it each day that we have had it out.
“We felt good in Cork and on the Donegal Harvest. I think both of those events are fairly similar to what we will face in Galway so we will just pick up from where we left off with the set-up on those rallies.”
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Photos by D Harrigan Images
