‘It’s a step into the unknown insofar as I haven’t done the Irish Tarmac Championship since 2016'

KEITH Cronin’s return to the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship is certain to create increased interest in the seven-round championship that begins with the Corrib Oil Galway International Rally on the first weekend of February. 

The Ballylickey driver will drive an M-Sport built Ford Fiesta Rally2 and will be co-driven by Killarney’s Mikie Galvin. 

In 2016, Cronin became the first driver to win the tarmac series onboard an R5 car after the Tarmac Rally Organisers Association (TROA) decided to ban the World Rally cars of that era from winning the series but not individual rounds.

At the time, the move was very controversial but time has proved it was the correct decision. Cronin, who campaigned a Citroen DS3 R5, was a triple British Rally champion and his participation in the Irish championship against the Ford Fiesta R5s of Alastair Fisher and the Moffett brothers Sam and Josh sparked great interest. 

In the interim, he won a fourth BRC crown but the drive for five, to equal Jimmy McRae’s all-time record, remains, for the moment at least, unfinished business.

Cronin, who spearheads the expansion of the family business, explained his decision to return to the Tarmac series but is keeping his options open on the BRC. 

‘Logistically, it's (the tarmac series) less pressure. We are working on a few things in relation to the British Rally Championship, but at the moment we are focussing on Galway,’ he explained.

Cronin’s last event was the Jim Clark Rally in Scotland, the second round of the British Rally Championship last May. Since then, Monaghan’s Josh Moffett and Derry’s Callum, the top duo in last year’s ITRC, both have nine rallies under their belts. Cronin reflects on that statistic.  

‘They showed great pace last year and have been pushing each other all year. I haven’t been around in terms of testing or anything like that so Galway will be all about getting up to speed. I would imagine we (himself and co-driver Mikie Galvin) will be quite slow to start with but we should get our pace up over the weekend and go from there,’ he said.

There’s no doubt that Cronin is keen to compete.

‘It will be good to be out again. In one sense it’s a step into the unknown insofar as I haven’t done the Irish Tarmac Championship since 2016,’ he pointed out. 

Back in 2017, he drove a Malcolm Wilson prepared Ford Fiesta R5 to victory in a ding-dong championship battle with Swedish ace Fredrik Ahlin while Welsh ace Matt Edwards was another of the series contenders. Ironically, Edwards is also planning an assault on the ITRC this year and, like Cronin, will drive a Ford Fiesta Rally2. On his own switch from a VW Polo GTi R5, Cronin remarked: ‘The VW Polo is still a very fast car but development of the car has stopped. Looking at the World Rally Championship (WRC2 category) the Fiesta Rally2 seems very strong. Hopefully, it’s the right decision.’

The second round of the ITRC is the West Cork Rally and Cronin proffered his opinion: ‘The West Cork Rally continues to grow in popularity and the three days is something new; it should be good.’

Locally, Cal McCarthy (Citroen C3 Rally2) is heading to Galway as is Kilcrohane’s Jer O’Donovan (Ford Fiesta R5).

The rounds of the 2024 ITRC are as follows: 1. Galway International Rally (February 3rd/4th); 2. West Cork Rally (March 15th-17th); 3. Circuit of Ireland (March 30th); 4. Rally of the Lakes, Killarney (May 4th/5th); 5 Donegal International Rally (June 21st-23rd); 6. Ulster Rally (August 17th); 7. Cork 20 International Rally (September 29th).