Irish Eyes smiling in multiple championships after Rali Ceredigion

Irish Eyes smiling in multiple championships after Rali Ceredigion

With the dust settled on a drama-filled Rali Ceredigion, it’s time to assess how Irish drivers and co-drivers fared in the various championships that made up the rally.

A total of 13 crews, ten of them representing the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy, were on the entry list for this prestigious event.

Rali Ceredigion served as the seventh round of the FIA European Rally Championship, the fifth round of the Junior European Rally Championship, the fifth and sixth rounds of the British Rally Championship, and the sixth round of the Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup.

Irish crews were prevalent across all categories and remain in contention in various championships as the season heads towards its grand finale.

British Rally Championship

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.

The British/US crew of Chris Ingram and Alex Kihurani took the first set of maximum points and the lead of the BRC standings, while Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin occupied second place. Cronin, having nominated the leg as his ‘Joker’ event, received an additional four points.

William Creighton and Liam Regan, who headed the points table going into the event, faced a challenging Saturday with punctures and off-road excursions, dropping to third in the BRC standings.

On Sunday, the final leg of the championship, Cronin and Galvin’s chances of adding to their points tally were dramatically ended by a crash. Ingram and Kihurani also suffered a crash, heavily damaging their Yaris.

The Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy crew of Jon Armstrong and Eoin Treacy finished the second day’s stages as the top BRC competitors but arrived late to Parc Fermé, allowing Creighton and Regan to take maximum BRC points from Leg 2.

This allowed Creighton and Regan to retain the lead of the British Championship with just one round, the Cambrian Rally, remaining.

Eamonn Kelly holds joint-third place in the BRC3 class. 

BRC Junior

Ryan MacHugh, in his Fiesta Rally4, took second-place points in the opening leg of the British Junior Championship.

Kyle McBride rounded out the podium in third after switching to an Opel Corsa Rally4.

MacHugh enjoyed the top spot on Sunday’s sixth round while McBride’s Opel suffered a water pipe failure, taking him out of third place.

Ahead of the Cambrian, McBride is third in the J-BRC championship ahead of MacHugh in fourth place.

Stellantis Cup

Many of the J-BRC contestants are also involved in the Stellantis Cup title fight. Despite an off-road excursion on Saturday, Keelan Grogan rejoined on Sunday and eventually finished fifth, retaining his championship lead.

 McBride, who was on for a top-three finish until the burst water pipe caused a delay and a time penalty, finished fourth but remains third in the championship standings.

Junior ERC

In the Junior European Rally Championship category, Aoife Raftery finished in seventh place. Raftery and Hannah McKillop faced handling issues in the morning loop but made improvements at the midday service. They showed a great turn of speed on Sunday afternoon, setting two top-five class times on wet roads. The Galway-based driver is sixth in the J-ERC championship with just the Polish round to go in October.

OTHER NEWS

Meanwhile, Josh McErlean and James Fulton continue their WRC2 campaign in the TokSport Skoda Rally2  with Acropolis Rally Greece this weekend.

Reigning Motorsport Ireland National Forestry champion Ryan Caldwell will make just his fifth appearance of the year on Saturday’s Lakeland Rally.

On his most recent outing Caldwell and co-driver Stephen O’Brien finished sixth overall on the Cork Forestry Rally in their Skoda Fabia R5

Craig Rahill is also competing in the Lakelands Rally in County Fermanagh on Sunday.

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