BY MARTIN WALSH
DESPITE spinning out of the Wilton Recycling Donegal International Rally whilst leading during Friday’s opening leg, Ballylickey’s Keith Cronin (Ford Fiesta Rally2) and his Killarney co-driver Mikie Galvin have retained the lead in the Samdec Securities Irish Tarmac Championship.
The series is now set for a thrilling finish on both the Ulster Rally (August 17th) and the Cork ‘20’ International Rally (September 29th). Donegal winners Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) along Welsh driver Matt Edwards and his Mallow born co-driver David Moynihan (Ford Fiesta Rally2) and Cronin/Galvin are all vying to become the 2024 Irish Tarmac Rally champions.
It’s certainly close – Cronin and Devine each have two wins and a second place (61 points) as their best three scores while Edwards has a win and two second places (56 points). From a best four scenario, Cronin leads Devine by three points with Devine seven points further behind.
At the conclusion of the event on Sunday evening, Devine/O’Sullivan, who debuted a state-of-the-art Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, secured back-to-back wins in Donegal where they finished 17.4 seconds ahead of the Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2 of Welsh ace Meirion Evans and Killarney’s Ger Conway. The all-Donegal crew of David Kelly/Dean O’Sullivan (VW Polo GTi R5) were nine seconds further behind in third.
Friday’s opening leg of six stages were in the Inishowen peninsula. On the opening Malin Head stage Cronin’s Ford Fiesta Rally2 scuffed a chicane bale and finished the stage a mere 0.7 seconds behind Edwards. ‘It was a bit ragged on my side,’ declared the Ballylickey driver.
On the second stage Edwards was 0.8 of a second quicker as Cronin commented on the tight and tricky conditions: ‘I took no risks, I’m not 100 percent confident yet due to the damp conditions.’ Edwards also won the final stage of the loop but yet again there was only a fraction of a second between himself and Cronin, this time the margin was 0.6 of a second that gave Edwards an overall lead of just 2.1 seconds. The leading duo had worked their way clear of third-placed Devine, who was a further 18 seconds behind Cronin at the Carndonagh service.
There, Cronin’s team made an astute tyre choice as they opted for a wet compound tyre for the repeat loop of three stages. The gain was instant as the Ballylickey driver was 11.1 seconds quicker than Edwards through the 14.3-kilometre stage to move into a nine-second lead. Having adjusted the set-up of his new Skoda Fabia, Devine was second fastest on the stage and while he remained in third place, he was 14.7 seconds behind Edwards.
Cronin’s rally ended on the day’s penultimate stage (SS5) Mamore Gap. He explained: ‘We made the right call and went out on a wet tyre for the second loop and having moved nine seconds ahead of Matt (Edwards) on SS4, I tried to take advantage. The surface (on SS5) was wet, I thought I would be okay on that particular patch as I reckoned the tyre would deal with it, but the car moved a bit on it and I couldn’t get on the brakes when I needed to. We went wide onto the grass and there was a piece of concrete that spun us around and broke a joint in the suspension.’
At the time it looked like a severe blow to Cronin’s Tarmac championship bid as his title rivals Edwards and Devine battled for supremacy. Devine was best on SS5 to move to within 8.1 seconds of Edwards, who was best on SS6 to lead the Derry driver at the overnight halt by 12 seconds. Tyrone’s Cathan McCourt was 12.8 seconds further behind in third.
Saturday’s opening four stages featured a double run over the classic Knockalla and Garrygort. Edwards dominated the first run over Knockalla but the gain was marginal. Indeed, it was much the same on the other three stages as the Welsh driver arrived at the Letterkenny service after SS10 with a 13.9 seconds advantage over Devine. Tyrone driver Cathan McCourt, with limited outings this season, continued in third, 30.4 seconds further behind.
Edwards put the foot down through the first run over High Glen to move 26.2 seconds ahead of Devine, who spun and was lucky to get his Skoda away relatively unscathed.
Edwards continued to lead and by the conclusion of the day’s penultimate stage held a 24-second advantage only for Devine to cut the overnight deficit to 16.2 seconds. McCourt lost third spot when he spun on the day’s final stage and Evans was best placed to inherit third.
Down through the decades, Sunday in Donegal throws up some drama. The day’s opener Gartan has a tough reputation as McCourt found out when he crashed after three kilometres into the stage. Devine was quickest and cut the deficit to Edwards to 13.1 seconds, the latter reckoning his Fiesta was down on power for the first few kilometres of the stage.
Edwards, in search of his second win of the season, floundered on the stage at Atlantic Drive and lost the lead to Devine after damaging the steering of his Ford Fiesta Rally2. The Welshman, who lost almost a minute, effected some temporary repairs on the road section to the stage at Fanad Head so as to keep further time loss to a minimum. At the final service, Devine led Evans by 37.5 seconds with Kelly (third) a further 13.8 seconds behind and 1.2s ahead of Edwards.
The drama continued as both Devine and Edwards spun at the same location on SS18, Devine’s lead over Evans was reduced to 20.3 seconds and Edwards slipped a place to fifth. The organisers cancelled the penultimate stage due to a bereavement.
Devine went on to claim back-to-back wins with Evans and Kelly completing the podium positions. Edwards, fastest through the final stage, reeled in Moffett for fourth place and with Evans not registered for the series, he collected third place championship points.
Elsewhere, Kilnamartyra co-driver JJ Cremin partnered Donegal’s Stuart Darcy (VW Polo GTi R5) to eighth overall; Ardfield co-driver Anthony O’Sullivan and Welsh driver Meirion Evans (Ford Escort) won the Historic category where Clondrohid co-driver Eoghan McCarthy and Alan Watkins (Ford Escort) were seventh in Class 18 and Ballyvourney co-driver Meabh Griffin and Charleville’s Walter Dick (Ford Escort) were sixth in Class 19. Dunmanway’s Ger O’Connell (Ford Escort) finished third in Class 12.
Result: 1. C. Devine/N. O'Sullivan (Skoda Fabia Rally2) 2h18m. 19.8s; 2. M. Evans/G. Conway (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2)+17.4s; 3. D. Kelly/D. O'Sullivan (VW Polo GTi R5)+26.4s; 4. M. Edwards/D. Moynihan (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+36.8s; 5. J. Moffett/A. Hayes (Citroen C3 Rally2)+48.8s; 6. M. Boyle/D. McCafferty (VW Polo GTi R5)+4m. 07.7s; 7. G. Jennings/R. Kennedy (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+4m. 12.3s; 8. S. Darcy/JJ Cremin (VW Polo GTi R5)5m. 38.3s; 9. D. Gallagher/J. McCarthy (Toyota Starlet)+5m. 59.6s; 10. J. McGonigle/C. Geaney (Citroen C3 Rally2)+6m. 03.9s.
Samdec Securities Irish Tarmac Rally Championship (provisional positions after Round 5): 1. K. Cronin 73 points; 2. M. Edwards 71.5pts; 3. C. Devine 63pts; 4. J. Moffett 50pts; 5. D. Kelly 44pts.
