Keith Cronin consolidates his Irish Tarmac Rally Championship lead

THE Circuit of Ireland Rally in Dungannon proved to be an absorbing contest between local hero Keith Cronin and Welsh ace Matt Edwards, both in Ford Fiesta Rally2 cars.  

After Saturday’s eight stages it was a reversal of their positions on the recent Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally with Edwards taking his first win of the season to move into second place in the Samdec Securities Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, 19.5 points behind Cronin.  

Edwards, co-driven by Mallow’s David Moynihan, finished 14.4 seconds in front of Cronin and his Killarney co-driver Mikie Galvin. Monaghan’s Josh Moffett (Citroen C3 Rally2) and co-driver Andy Hayes were a distant third, one minute and 31.7 seconds further behind.

In bright and sunny conditions the rally quickly developed into a battle between Cronin and Edwards, but the conditions were tricky due to wet roads.  

On the opening stage Edwards was a mere 0.4 seconds ahead of Cronin with top seed and last year’s rally winner Callum Devine (VW Polo GTi R5) seven seconds shy of top spot. Cronin was best on SS2 and SS3, but it remained close – the Ballylickey ace just one second up on his nemesis. Devine’s rally ended on SS3 when he ran wide and hit a bank that damaged the rear right track control arm.

The fourth stage completed the morning loop as Edwards had his second fastest stage time to narrow the deficit to Cronin to 0.2 seconds. At the service park Cronin commented, ‘There’s a lot of water in places, it’s tricky to find the balance between good speed and managing the conditions, but I’m comfortable at what I’m at.’  

It was very clear this was a battle between the two Fiesta drivers. Josh Moffett in third was 39.6 seconds further behind.

While the sun continued to shine, the weather predictions were for occasional showers during the afternoon. Cronin took what appeared to be a decisive lead of 4.7 seconds on SS5, however, the skies began to darken and the weather prediction came true when a heavy hailstone shower lasted for several minutes. Before he departed the service park Edwards/Moynihan made what was termed an ‘inspired’ tyre choice. They opted to take two wet compound Pirelli tyres as spares. Fitting one to the right front and the other to the rear left they took a whopping 10.6 seconds from Cronin to lead by 5.9 seconds after SS6. 

On the penultimate stage Edwards gained another 2.3 seconds and the 8.2-second gap proved too much for Cronin, who had decided to secure second to protect his title bid. Edwards punched in his fifth fastest stage time to claim the spoils. A magnanimous Cronin said, ‘The gap was too big, we decided to hold off and settle for second placed championship points. It was a tough rally but fair play to Matt, he made a good tyre choice and it worked.’ 

Elsewhere, Clonakilty’s Kevin Kelleher (Ford Escort) had an untroubled run to finish 22nd overall. He said: ‘Conditions were difficult but I enjoyed the day.’ Barryroe co-driver Dylan Doonan and Belfast’s Barry Morris retired their Darrian T90 GTR with alternator issues.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, April 13th, Cronin and Galvin return to the Probite British Rally Championship for the Rallynuts Severn Valley Stages Rally, the second round of the series and the first of three gravel events. The fourth round of the ITRC is the Rally of the Lakes in Killarney on May 4th/5th.

Results: 1. M. Edwards/D. Moynihan (Ford Fiesta Rally2) 1h. 11m. 46.3s; 2. K. Cronin/M. Galvin (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+14.4s; 3. J. Moffett/A. Hayes (Citroen C3 Rally2)+1m. 46.1s; 4. C. McCourt/B. Hoy (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+2m. 11.5s; 5. G. Jennings/R. Kennedy (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+3m. 43.2s; 6. J. Black/K. Egan (Toyota Starlet)+4m. 51.0s; 7. M. Alcorn/D. Curran (Ford Escort)+4m. 54.1s.

Samdec Securities Irish Tarmac Rally Championship (provisional positions after round three): 1. K. Cronin 61pts; 2. M. Edwards 41.5pts; 3. J. Moffett 39pts.