BY MARTIN WALSH
WITH just one round remaining in both the British Rally Championship and the Irish National Rally series, the Cronin brothers, Keith and Daniel, face a difficult task in their respective bids for championship success.
Keith was competing in the Rali Bae Ceredigion in Wales, the penultimate event of the Probite British Rally Championship. After securing much-needed second-place points from the opening leg to move to second in the series, he rolled out in spectacular fashion during Sunday’s opening stage of the second leg. Fortunately, the Ballylickey driver and his Killarney co-driver Mikie Galvin were unhurt.
A record-equalling fifth British title is now a long shot for Cronin, who must win the final round, the Visit Conwy Cambrian Rally in Llandudno, and also hope his title rivals finish further down the order. While mathematically the championship remains a four-way contest between Cronin, Ingram, William Creighton and Osian Pryce, realistically it’s really a straight fight between Ingram and Creighton.
Meanwhile, Daniel Cronin (VW Polo GTi R5) also still has a mathematical chance of winning the Triton Showers National Rally Championship after he finished fifth in the Bluebird Care Galway Summer Rally in Ballinasloe on Sunday. However, even a victory in next month’s Donegal Harvest Rally may still not be enough as fellow rivals Josh Moffett, Sam Moffett and Eddie Doherty can edge him out.
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The Welsh event dovetailed as rounds of the British series and the FIA European Rally Championship. A double run over the short spectator stage in Aberystwyth on Friday evening opened proceedings. Cronin, who campaigned Daniel O’Brien’s Ford Fiesta Rally2, liveried with his own ITRC/BRC sponsor logos, hit a gravel bag on the exit of a corner following a compression that damaged the front left suspension. Following the two runs, he was 3.3 seconds behind championship leader Chris Ingram (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2).
With just a 15-minute service prior to Saturday’s eight stages the Tom Gahan Motorsport team did heroic work and replaced the upright within the time allowed.
Welsh ace James Williams (Hyundai i20 Rally2) set an incredible pace on SS3 and even though he was on familiar territory, he moved from tenth to second overall, 1.4 seconds behind ERC leader Hayden Paddon only to crash out on the very next stage.
Cronin took time to settle and regain his confidence; he was fourth quickest of the BRC contenders on SS3 and an impressive second on SS4, the longest stage of the rally (26.55km). On SS4 Cronin remarked, ‘It was really difficult, it was hard to manage the cuts, there's a lot of mud and time in there if you're willing to take big risks. A really tricky stage.’
When they arrived back at the service park in Aberystwyth, Cronin and Galvin were second of the BRC contingent, 18.7 seconds behind Ingram. Pre-event championship leader William Creighton slid down the order with a puncture (SS3) and a time-consuming off-road excursion (SS5).
With some tweaking and a strong tyre choice, Cronin gave a much-improved performance on the repeat of the three stages. Not alone did he cut Ingram’s advantage to 9.5 seconds the Ballylickey ace moved up to third overall in the event.
‘I have a better feeling with the car now. Confidence was low this morning but it’s much better now,’ he said.
Creighton collected another puncture on the afternoon stage. The first leg concluded with another double run over the spectator stage. Understandably, Cronin was wary of the stage. He said: ‘After what happened last night on that stage I was being extra careful everywhere.’ He dropped a few seconds and held fifth overall but still second in terms of the BRC.
Cronin had selected the leg as his ‘Joker’ round and secured an additional four championship points. With Creighton well out of the major points, Ingram moved into the lead of the series with Cronin moving into second spot.
Sunday’s final leg of four (2x2) stages was another full BRC points scoring opportunity. At the finish of SS11, Cronin’s ITRC and former BRC rival Matt Edwards (Ford Fiesta Rally2) remarked, ‘Fairly early on, there’s a very shiny right hander that nips on the exit, few people had a wobble there as there is a lot of rubble on the road. I wouldn't be surprised to see someone else struggle there.’
The comment was somewhat prophetic for the entire stage. Ingram bowed out when he slid off at high speed and the impact with a bank ripped a wheel from his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. Astonishingly within a few seconds Cronin, running ahead of the Manchester driver, rolled his Ford Fiesta Rally2 out of the event, dealing a cruel blow to his title aspirations. Fortunately, both himself and co-driver Mikie Galvin escaped injury.
With Cronin and Ingram out, Creighton was second in terms of the BRC-registered competitors with fellow Northern Ireland driver Jon Armstrong (Ford Fiesta Rally2) setting the pace. Prior to the final control, Armstrong elected to check into the finish time control late so as to incur a 20-second time penalty, enough to hand Creighton the maximum score for round six that saw him regain the series lead from Ingram. The provisional championship standings are: Creighton 96 points; Ingram 95pts; Pryce 78pts and Cronin 75pts.
While the odds are probably stacked against him, Cronin has yet to make a final decision about contesting the final round. On the incident, Cronin remarked ‘It was slippier than I anticipated, the car understeered and hit a wall. While it's still mathematically possible to win the series, we will decide in the next few weeks if we will contest the Cambrian Rally (final round) in Wales.’
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Fourth-placed championship points in the Galway Summer Rally has retained Daniel Cronin’s bid to win the Triton Showers National Rally Championship that concludes with the Donegal Harvest Rally in Letterkenny on October 12th.
The Ballylickey driver along with Monaghan brothers Josh and Sam Moffett and Kilkenny’s Eddie Doherty are all in contention, albeit with varying levels of championship success.
Josh Moffett, campaigning his championship-winning Hyundai i20 R5, took a start-to-finish victory in the Ballinasloe based event. With fourth-placed James Ford not registered for the championship, Daniel Cronin and his Dunmanway co-driver Donnchadh Burke collected fourth placed (14) points. Josh Moffett also won the Power Stage to secure the maximum 21 points. The series is based on the best six scores from the eight rounds. Currently, their best (provisional) are: Doherty and Cronin 101pts, Josh Moffett 97pts and Sam Moffett 94pts. With dropped scores: Josh Moffett 96; Sam Moffett 94; Eddie Doherty 88pts and Daniel Cronin 87. Interestingly, the Moffett duo cannot afford to have a non-finish in Donegal as they already have either missed or have very low scores in two rounds.
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