BY MARTIN WALSH
KEITH Cronin’s bid to win the British Rally Championship for a record-equalling fifth time is being boosted by the addition of a new partnership with Molson Group, the UK's largest independent new and used heavy equipment dealer.
The Molson Group name will appear on Cronin's Volkswagen Polo GTi R5 on Saturday's Rali Ceredigion in Wales, the fifth and key round of the series that also marks its debut in the BRC.
'We are delighted to welcome the support of Molson Group to our team,' said the Ballylickey driver, who leads title rival and Welshman Osian Pryce by 18 points, but with dropped scores taken into consideration (the series will be decide don the best five from seven scores) they are level on points
'The run-in to the championship is going to be tough, this round and the final one are both in Wales, so Osian will have home advantage of sorts. With each of us with two wins from four rounds, the aim is to finish ahead of Osian (Pryce) this weekend. There are others on the entry that could spring a surprise on us too. I'll give it my best shot to bring home the title with Molson Group and all of our other existing supporters, to whom I am very grateful.'
Molson Group is a supplier to the construction, demolition, recycling, aggregate, port and timber industries and has thirteen outlets throughout the UK, offering clients market leading products, backed up by over seventy service engineers and a massive inventory of parts. The group consists of eight separate divisions.
Rali Ceredigion is the final tarmac event of the series, but Cronin knows that Pryce, who won this event when it was first held in 2019, will have a slight advantage. The rally gets underway tomorrow evening with two runs over a short half mile spectator stage on Aberystwyth’s promenade that is followed by two much longer stages, the final one under the cover of darkness. There are a further eight stages on Sunday.
In addition to the new partnership with Molson Group, Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin are also supported in the British Rally Championship by the Michael O’Brien Group of Companies, Keohane Seafoods, Inver Energy, Cremin Coaches, Cronin’s Homevalue Hardware, Cronin’s Centra (Ballylickey, Leap and Union Hall) and Pirelli Tyres.
2022 British Rally Championship Championship Points - Drivers: 1. Keith Cronin 86; 2. Osian Pryce 68; 3. James Williams 45; 4. Jason Pritchard 31; 5. Garry Pearson 30; 6. Eamonn Kelly 25. Co-Drivers: 1. Mikie Galvin 86; 2. Noel O’Sullivan 3. 68; Dai Roberts 45; 4. Phil Clarke 31; 5. Dale Furniss 27; 6. Conor Mohan, 24.
