Keith Cronin withdraws from British Rally Championship

FOUR-TIME British Rally champion Keith Cronin has canned his bid for a record-equalling fifth crown and will not contest any of the remaining rounds of the series including next week’s Ulster Rally in Newry.

Currently in second place, he is 44 points behind M-Sport factory driver French ace Adrien Fourmaux, who has won all three rounds to date including annexing five bonus points from his ‘Joker’ round.

Cronin was second in the Malcolm Wilson Rally and the Jim Clark Rally but skipped the third round Ypres Rally in Belgium.

‘This year’s rallying was always going to be on an event-by-event basis. I am up against a driver (Fourmaux) that has so much experience in this year’s World Rally Championship, not to mention testing,’ Cronin told The Southern Star.

There is really no comparison in terms of seat time and while Cronin improves his times towards the end of events, it’s too late. Neither has he the luxury of an arrival-and-drive experience that Fourmaux is afforded.

‘Realistically, the championship is out of reach at this stage. There is no point in throwing more finance and effort at it and it takes a lot of both to do the series,’ Cronin said.

However, the Ballylickey man hasn’t given up on equalling Jimmy McRae’s all-time record of five titles.

‘We will see what happens over the winter. It also depends on the make-up of the championship. It’s mental money to go to Belgium (Ypres Rally), the organisers need to take an in-depth look at the championship. If there was another round anywhere in Ireland, I think a lot of drivers would register for it,’ he said.

Cronin is also busy with the family business that has recently expanded to a base in Millstreet. In the meantime, his brothers Daniel, Robert and Colin will continue to fly the motorsport flag.