Cronin’s attempt at a fifth BRC title appear over for another year

CEREDIGION DELIVERS WILDLY VARYING FORTUNES FOR CRONIN AND GALVIN 

  The contenders for the European and British Championships came together in Wales at the weekend for Rali Ceredigion, and it was an event of hugely varying fortunes for Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin in their M O’Brien Group of Companies/Lyons Motor Group/Shane Casey Electrical Services Ford Fiesta Rally 2. On the short opening test around Aberystwyth town centre on Friday evening, the car bottomed out on the approach to a corner and clipped a tonne bag of gravel forming part of the stage furniture on the exit.  They were still second fastest of the Probite British Championship runners, and were seventh overall, but the car picked up damage from the encounter, which affected their performance on the second run, and they dropped a few places on the leaderboard overnight.

The Tom Gahan Motorsport mechanics succeeded in changing the entire left front suspension unit within the fifteen minutes allowed service time on Saturday morning.  “They did a great job, they didn’t have much time to do the job, but they got it done thankfully, and got us going again,” said Cronin.  However, he spent the early part of the day struggling somewhat, but was unsure as to the reason.  Some fine tuning to the set-up was carried out during the mid-day service, and matters improved notably in the afternoon.

European Rally Championship leaders, Hayden Paddon and John Kennard, were fastest on both of the Friday evening stages in their Hyundai i20N.  On Saturday’s opening test, it was British Championship regulars, James Williams and Ross Whittock, who took a surprise fastest time, moving them into second overall, but all their good work was undone on stage four when they crashed out.  This left Chris Ingram and Alex Kihurani as the top BRC crew in their Toyota GR Yaris.  John Armstrong and Eoin Treacy, who have been pursuing the European series this year in their Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy-supported Ford Fiesta, were also registered for the British Championship for Ceredigion, and they were next of the BRC crews, with Cronin and Galvin lying in third.  Armstrong and Treacy then lost time with a puncture on the stage five, which allowed Cronin and Galvin to take up second place in the BRC field.  They were also climbing the overall leaderboard as the day went on, and by the last full stage of the day, they were third overall, and had closed to within 9.5 seconds of Ingram and Kihurani.

Two more runs through Aberystwyth rounded out Saturday’s action.  Cronin and Galvin lost a place on each of the spectator stages, to Mathieu Franceschi/Andy Malfoy and Miko Marczyk/Szymon Gospodarkzyk, and dropped to fifth on the overnight leaderboard.  “That doesn’t worry me,” said Cronin, who had highlighted in advance of the weekend that his priority was British Championship points, and he was also mindful of his Friday evening mishap: “After what happened to me on that stage last night I was probably just being extra careful everywhere.  We’ll see what tomorrow holds,” he said.  

The event offered two points scoring opportunities for the British Championship contenders, with the Friday and Saturday stages forming one round, and the Sunday stages another.  Ingram and Kihurani, took the first set of maximum points and the lead of the BRC standings as a result, with Cronin and Galvin occupying second place.  The deficit in points awarded between second and first was lessened by virtue of Cronin having nominated the Leg as his ‘Joker’ event of the year, which granted him an additional four points for ending the Saturday stages as the second-placed BRC driver.  Ingram took home 26 points for his work, while Cronin gained 23.

William Creighton and Liam Regan in the second Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy Fiesta, who headed the points table going into the event, had a torrid Saturday, during which they punctured twice and also went off the road, and they dropped to third in the BRC standings.

With the clocks effectively re-setting to zero for BRC points on Sunday morning, all of the contenders had to treat the final Leg as a brand new event.  The first stage of the day brought a dramatic end to Cronin and Galvin’s chances of adding further to their points tally, when they caught some loose gravel on the inside of a narrow corner and slid into a wall on the opposite side, which then pitched them into a roll.  Their rally was over, and the outcome has put a significant dent in their hopes of lifting the 2024 British title.  The same stage also saw Ingram and Kihurani lose grip on a shiny section of tar, and crash into a stone bridge.  Their Yaris was heavily damaged, and they also went no further.

Armstong and Treacy finished the day’s stages as the top BRC competitors, but then took a twenty second time penalty by being late arriving to Parc Fermé, which allowed their fellow M-Sport Ford crew, Creighton and Regan, to take maximum BRC points from Leg 2.  The outcome of the team strategy is that Creighton and Regan retake the lead of the British Championship with just next month’s final round, the Cambrian Rally, remaining to be completed.   They have 96 points, one more than Ingram and Kihurani.  Cronin and Galvin are on 75, and while they still have a mathematical chance of taking the championship victory, it appears that a fifth British title for Cronin, and a second for Galvin, will have to wait for another year.  Osian Pryce and Rhodri Evans, who were the third placed British crew on Saturday and fourth on Sunday, are also on 75 points, but they have spared their Joker for the final round, and may spring a surprise on their home ground.

The New Zealanders, Paddon and Kennard, took a comfortable overall win in Ceredigion, and are in a very strong position to claim the European Championship crown on Rally Selesia, in October.

The attention of Cronin and Galvin will now switch to the Cork ’20’ International Rally at the end of September, which forms the final round of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.  They lead the Tarmac points standings ahead of Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan, and a second place finish will be enough to take that title, even if Devine and O’Sullivan were to win the rally.

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.

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