NAPA Auto Parts Irish Tarmac Rally Championship

NAPA Auto Parts Irish Tarmac Rally Championship
Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan overcame tough conditions to grab a late Circuit of Ireland Rally victory to kickstart their latest NAPA Auto Parts Irish Tarmac Rally Championship campaign.
The 2023 Irish Tarmac Rally Champions had been second for most of the two-day event before three of the Circuit of Ireland’s top four hit trouble on its penultimate The Hollow test.
West Cork Rally winners Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin had dominated the rally with six straight stage wins in wet and mucky conditions, giving them a 39.4-second lead.
Cronin was masterful on the slippery stages but a brake issue ahead of stage ten saw his lead disappear. The Cork pilot was forced to bleed his Citroen C3 Rally2’s brakes and incurred one and a half minutes of road penalties as a result.
Worse was to follow as the quick fix didn’t solve the problem and as he cruised through The Hollow, his Citroen picked up a rear-left puncture. Somehow, he still managed to finish, taking eighth overall and a few crucial championship points.
Devine was Cronin’s nearest challenger and held a 27.1-second advantage over third-placed Matt Edwards after the latter overshot a junction on stage five.
The Welshman, who was building his confidence after an off in West Cork, responded with a hat-trick of fastest times to cut the gap to Devine to 6.4 seconds with two tests remaining.
With Cronin running into trouble, Edwards and David Moynihan were now in the hunt for their second Circuit victory in as many years. Unfortunately, their challenge ended on the slippery The Hollow stage, making it two retirements from their first two Irish Tarmac rounds.
Fourth-placed Eddie Doherty also failed to make it through the Circuit of Ireland’s penultimate stage which handed second position to the hard-charging Ford Fiesta Rally2 of Garry Jennings and Rory Kennedy.
Jennings’ fightback from 15th after intercom issues on stage one was halted by a puncture on stage four but several top-five times, including the second-fastest time on stage five, allowed him to climb up to fifth.
The Hollow’s dramatic events put Jennings into second, albeit nearly a minute and a half behind rally winner Devine.
Donegal’s David Kelly finished the rally with a fastest time and completed the Circuit of Ireland’s podium positions. Kelly and co-driver Arthur Kierans finished fourth on the West Cork Rally, marking a strong start to the NAPA-backed series.
Paul Barrett and Michael Boyle rounded out the top five with Josh Moffett and James Ford among the drivers who had been running inside the top five before coming unstuck on Northern Ireland’s countryside terrain.
Ben McFall and Damian McAuley sealed a memorable Rally4 victory, enough to give them fourth out of the two-wheel-drive competitors.
Circuit of Ireland Rally top five:
1 Devine/O’Sullivan (Skoda Fabia Rally2) 1:39:28.5s
2 Jennings/Kennedy (Ford Fiesta Rally2) +1:24.9s
3 Kelly/Kierans (Volkswagen Polo R5) +2:26.0
4 Barrett/Kelly (Citroen C3 Rally2) +2:56.9
5 Boyle/Mullen (Polo) +3:22.6

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