Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin have taken second place in the Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally in their Citroën C3, and with it maximum NAPA Auto Parts Irish Tarmac Rally Championship points, as event winners, Jon Armstrong and Shane Byrne are not registered for the Tarmac series. While Cronin and Galvin may have not taken a second West Cork victory in a row as they had hoped, the result marks a solid start to the reigning Tarmac champions' title defence.
Cronin and Galvin led the rally from the outset on Friday afternoon, and were initially challenged by Matt Edwards and David Moynihan, until they put their Hyundai i20 off the road on Saturday morning. Armstrong and Byrne had a less than ideal start, as the intercom in their Ford Fiesta failed to function for the first couple of stages, but once that was attended to, they were able to set the pace, gradually reeling in Cronin and Galvin, on Friday night and throughout Saturday, setting a number of fastest stage times. 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 take a comfortable victory by 34.8 seconds, despite a late scare with a mechanical issue. The result forms the ideal warm-up for their European Championship campaign which begins in Spain next month.
Josh Moffett and Andy Hayes took third place in another Citroën, over a minute down on Cronin and Galvin, and 43.8 seconds ahead of Eddie Doherty and Tom Doherty, who finished fourth in their Skoda Fabia.
The top crews are now heading to Clonakilty for the podium celebrations, which will get underway shortly at Emmett Square.
Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin are supported by M Group of Companies, Shane Casey Electrical Services, Michelin Tyres, Cronin’s Centra (Ballylickey, Union Hall, Leap, Millstreet and Dundrum), Cronin’s HomeValue Hardware, Daybreak Westlink, Cronin's Swift Laundry, Cremin Coaches, Reens Rathmore, Keohane Seafoods, Citroën Racing, and Race and Rally Motorsport. Their Citroën C3 Rally 2 is prepared and run by Tom Gahan Motorsport.
