Cronin's Moonraker Rally win ideal prep ahead of BRC event in Wales

Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin took victory in the Munster Car Club’s Abbey Hotel Moonraker Rally on Saturday, in their Volkswagen Polo GTi.

They were fastest on seven of the event’s eight stages, and eventually finished with an advantage of 43.5 seconds over Patrick and Stephen O’Brien in a Skoda Fabia, with Niall McCullagh and Ryan McCloskey rounding out the top three in their Ford Fiesta, a further 20.2 seconds behind.

Jordan and Paul Hone’s fourth place finish was sufficient for them to retain the lead of the National Forestry Rally Championship.

For Cronin and Galvin, current leaders of the British Rally Championship, the outing on the Baile Bhúirne-based Moonraker provided an ideal lead-in to Saturday’s Nicky Grist Rally in Wales, with various gravel tyre and set-up combinations tested on the Tom Gahan Motorsport run Polo en route to the win.  The Nicky Grist will the first of four forestry rallies among the remaining five rounds in the 2022 BRC series.