Young and Lawlor class winners: Kerry crews round up from West Cork Rally

Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin secured their second consecutive victory at the Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally, albeit under controversial circumstances.

Jon Armstrong and Shane Byrne, who initially crossed the finish line with a 34.8-second lead, were later excluded by stewards for receiving outside assistance after their Ford Fiesta suffered engine failure on the final stage.

Armstrong and Byrne’s Fiesta developed a mechanical issue near the end of the final Sam’s Cross stage, cutting out after the finish line. Stewards ruled that the push they received from other competitors constituted outside assistance, violating Motorsport Ireland regulations.    

Cronin and Galvin were dogged by understeer issues throughout Saturday, and these became more pronounced on the final day, leading to a near miss with the scenery near the start of the Ardfield stage.

 Armstrong and Byrne moved ahead on the next test, Glandore, and went on to extend their advantage to 34.8 seconds by the end of the rally, but the late mechanical issue led to the undoing of their good work.  

Their attention will now turn to their European Championship campaign, which begins in Spain in three weeks’ time, while Cronin and Galvin are expected to appear next on the Carlisle Rally, round two of the British Championship in early April.

The win gave them maximum points in the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, marking a perfect start to their title defence.

“It’s a strange way to win, I’d rather have taken it on stage times alone,” said Cronin.  “Jon and Shane were very unfortunate to have that issue right at the end, they were on a great pace all weekend.  We’ll all be keeping a close eye on their progress in the European Championship, and I look forward to competing against them again in Wales later in the year.”

Josh Moffett and Andy Hayes were promoted to second place in another Citroën, over a minute down on Cronin and Galvin, and 43.8 seconds ahead of Eddie Doherty and Tom Doherty, who were classified third in their Skoda Fabia.

Glenflesk-based co-driver Sean Nolan and James Bradley secured second place in Class 13  in their Ford Escort.

Derry Long, co-driving for Aaron Browne in a Ford Fiesta Rally4, finished fourth in their class and 29th overall.

Keith McCarthy and his driver  Ed O’Callaghan, in their Ford Escort finished in  36th place overall overall and sixth in Class 14.

Darren Young and Pa Lawlor emerged victorious in Class 11F, leading their Honda Civic to 27th overall after a hard-fought battle defending a narrow lead on the final day. They were also the highest placed all-Kerry crew on the event. 

Patrick Calnan, a West Cork driver with strong ties to Ballyheugie, finished fourth in Class 22 in his Honda Civic, while Anthony O’Driscoll and his Kerry co-driver Kieran Reen took seventh in the same class, also in a Honda Civic.

 Ian Stanley, co-driving for Mark Donovan, were third in Class 11R in their Ford Escort MK2.

Vincent O’Shea was forced to retire his Darrian due to an engine oil issue, and Sam Leech also retired due to a broken driveshaft on his Honda Civic. In the Historic Rally, Fergus O’Meara overcame tyre overheating issues to win his historic class in his BMW M3.

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