CRONIN POISED FOR DAY TWO OF GRAMPIAN RALLY
The Grampian Rally, round four of the British Rally Championship, has got underway in the Aberdeenshire forests, and after the opening two stages this evening, Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin hold third place inM O’Brien Group of Companies/Lyons Motor Group/Shane Casey Electrical Services Ford Fiesta Rally 2. They are 10.7 seconds off the lead, which is held by Osian Pryce and Rhodri Evans, also in a Fiesta. Chris Ingram and Alex Kihurani lie in second place in their Toyota GR Yaris, four seconds behind Pryce and Evans.
The first stage, Hurlie Bog, saw William Creighton and Liam Regan record fastest time in the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy Fiesta, but they punctured approximately two thirds through the second test, Finglennie, and lost almost half a minute, to leave them fifth on the overnight leaderboard. Pryce and Evans were fastest on stage two, by just half a second from Ingram and Kihurani, with Cronin and Galvin a further seven tenths behind.
Having been 8.8 seconds off the pace on the opener, Cronin was significantly closer to the pace of the leaders on the second stage, but was not overly happy with his evening’s work. “I felt I didn’t drive well at all to be honest, I just didn’t feel comfortable, any time I tried to push on a bit the car was getting away from me,” he said. “I just didn’t get into a nice rhythm this evening, but tomorrow’s another day. There are a lot of big boulders being pulled out by the guys going for the big cuts. I think William got a puncture. The big, big cuts are pulling out big rocks and they were really hitting the car. Based on those two stages, if the rocks keep coming, they will do damage and more punctures will happen. I felt I drove very much within myself on those two stages, but I wasn’t happy with how I drove, but it was okay. You don’t have to win every rally to win championships, but you still have to push on.”
Seven further stages await the crews tomorrow, with the first of these due to get underway at 09:43am.
Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin are supported by M Group of Companies, Lyons Motor Group, Shane Casey Electrical Services, Molson Equipment, Pirelli, EARS Motorsport Ireland, Cronin’s Centra (Ballylickey, Union Hall, Leap, Millstreet and Dundrum), Cronin’s HomeValue Hardware, Westlink Service Station and Daybreak Shop, Cremin Coaches, Keohane Seafoods, M-Sport and Wurth Ireland. Their Ford Fiesta Rally 2 is prepared and run by Tom Gahan Motorsport.
Info by Padraig Reddington
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