JUMP START FOR KEITH
THE Probite Motorsport UK British Rally Championship [BRC] heads for the gravel at the Rallynuts Severn Valley Stages in round two of the 2024 series this weekend.
Ireland will have two drivers inside the top 10 seeds, and both with realistic hopes of winning, as for four-time title winner Keith Cronin and his co-driver Mikie Galvin, the event represents an opportunity to get their 2024 challenge back on track following a troubled outing on the opening round in Lancashire
last month.
The Killarney and District Motor Club crew are undertaking a dual campaign this season, taking on the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship (which they lead after three rounds) and the British series.
Issues
While they have had an excellent start at home, taking two wins and a second place, a puncture, a spin and a variety of mechanical issues scuppered the chance of a podium finish on the North West Stages on the BRC, which was won by Chris Ingram and Alex Kihurani.
Ingram is seeded at number one in the VW polo, and right behind him is the other Irish crew in William Creighton and Liam Regan in Ford Fiesta Rally 2.
Creighton is the reigning world junior rally champion and he is using various Irish and BRC rounds to tune up for the World Rally Championship (WRC) which begins for the Moira driver at the Croatian round later this month.
Creighton will use round two of the BRC to understand of how the Fiesta copes on gravel.
For Cronin, hopes of becoming the first Irish driver to win the Irish and British Championship in the same season, took a knock in round one of the BRC.
“We can’t afford to have many more days like that if we’re to be in with a shout of the BRC title at the end of the year,” said Cronin.