DEVINE TAKING CALM APPROACH AHEAD OF CIRCUIT OF IRELAND
Ford Fiesta R5 man wants victory to bounce back in championship hunt
Callum Devine is approaching the Circuit of Ireland this weekend declaring that it’s not yet time to hit the panic button on his Irish Tarmac Rally Championship campaign for 2022.
After retiring from last month’s West Cork Rally following gearbox failure, Devine heads to Ballymena in fifth place in the standings. He trails series leader Josh Moffett by 26 points.
Devine, who had a strong end to 2021 with successes on the
Cork ‘20’International, Donegal Harvest and Tour of the Sperrins rallies, said: “From a [Tarmac] title point of view, it’s not ideal to have a non-finish so early in the season but that’s rallying.
“We showed good pace to fight with the guys at the front [this season] and hopefully going forward we can just keep doing that and see come the end of the season what way things are.
“A win at the Circuit of Ireland would be a great way to bounce back from our West Cork result but we are under no illusions as to just how challenging that is going to be,” he added.
Devine has been relying heavily on past recce notes and recent in-car video footage of the Glendun and Cairncastle stages as part of his pre-rally preparations having never tackled them in anger in a R5 car before now.
“I’m really looking forward tackling some of the classic stages – they are going to be special in an R5 car,” he said.
“The Fiesta’s set-up worked very well in West Cork – it was our first dry rally in the car and it seemed to work well.
“The roads in the Glens of
Antrim are a bit different from the roads at the other end of the county but don’t think it will take much time to dial the car in to the roads up that way.”
Devine will share the stages at the Circuit with Moffett (Hyundai i20 R5), Meirion Evans (Volkswagen Polo
GTI R5), Alastair Fisher (Volkswagen Polo GTI R5) and Jonathan Greer (Citroen C3 Rally2).