This Friday will see the Probite British Rally Championship field convene in Wales for Rali Ceredigion, and among them will be Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin, who are currently third in the points standings in the M O’Brien Group of Companies/Lyons Motor Group/Shane Casey Electrical Services Ford Fiesta Rally 2. The event counts as two rounds of the series, with full points being awarded from the classification on Saturday evening, and again from the total times of the Sunday stages. Cronin and Galvin lie eighteen points off the lead of the BRC, with just Ceredigion, and the Cambrian Rally in October, remaining to be completed from the calendar. As well as being part of the domestic series, Rali Ceredigion is also a round of the European Rally Championship, and the entry list features drivers from fourteen countries.
Cronin has additionally chosen to nominate the Friday-Saturday leg of Ceredigion as his ‘Joker’ BRC round, which awards an additional five points for a win, or 4-3-2-1 down to fifth place, therefore the potential returns on offer from a successful weekend are even more significant. “The outcome will probably give us a shot of taking the title at the final round, or else rule us out of the running entirely, we’ll know a lot by Sunday evening,” said Cronin. “With the two legs counting for points, it’ll require a different approach to most other rallies. Even if the leading BRC driver is well ahead on Saturday evening, whoever it is will have to push again on Sunday with the clocks resetting to zero for another set of points. There won’t be the option of just maintaining an existing margin, it’ll need everything thrown at it,” he added. “Plus, inflicting damage on Saturday and not being able to restart on Sunday would be disastrous from a championship point of view, so that will also be a consideration.”
With the European championship status comes some changes in format in comparison to other British Championship rounds, not least of which is a Qualifying Stage on Friday morning, the outcome of which will decide the running order on Leg One. “We get two Free Practice runs on the stage before the actual Qualifying run, the piece of road is just over four kilometres long”, explained Cronin. “How well you go on the Qualifying Stage determines where you run on the road, not your seeding on the Entry List. Running order doesn’t make a huge difference on tarmac rallies, or at least not as much as on gravel, but at the same time the later you are on the road, the more mud and stones might have been pulled out ahead of you from some of the grass verges by the drivers going for big cuts, especially so if it is wet,” he continued. “So all in all, it’s better to give as much as you can to the Qualifying Stage as well. Some BRC events have a Shakedown stage where you can blow away the cobwebs, and the Qualifying stage will have the same benefit, it’s like doing a pre-match warm-up, plus it gives a chance to try any last minute adjustments to the car.”
Cronin and Galvin go to Wales fresh from victory on the Ulster Rally, a round of the Irish Tarmac Championship (which they lead), and will be hopeful that they can continue that form in Ceredigion. Regular Tarmac Championship frontrunners, Matt Edwards/David Moynihan and Callum Devine/Noel O’Sullivan have also placed entries for the Welsh event.
William Creighton currently leads the British Championship driver standings on 70 points, having taken second place on each of the first three rounds. He had the pace to win the most recent event, the Grampian Rally, in the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy supported, and M-Sport run, Ford Fiesta, but two punctures stymied his efforts and he eventually finished fourth. Monaco-domiciled Mancunian, Chris Ingram, is second, just a point behind Creighton, having won the Grampian, and the North West Stages at the start of the season. Ingram started the year in a Volkswagen Polo GTi R5, but later switched to a Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2, and is the only driver to win twice so far this season. Cronin, winner of the Jim Clark Rally, is next up on 52, while Welshman, Osian Pryce lies fourth, on 47. Pryce won the Severn Valley Stages in his Fiesta, and could have taken the Grampian but for a time-consuming spin. He will have the comfort of being on home ground for Rali Ceredigion, which he won last year, and for the Cambrian finale.
The entry list is headed by the top European Rally Championship contenders. New Zealander, Hayden Paddon, is the reigning champion, current points leader, and winner of Rali Ceredigion in 2022. Frenchman, Mathieu Franceschi, and Polish driver, Mikolaj Marczyk, are Paddon’s closest challengers. “British Championship points are our priority for the weekend,” says Cronin. “There will be no need to get sucked into a battle with the European Championship drivers for the overall rally win if they’re getting ahead, they can do their own thing. I expect the other BRC drivers will have a similar mindset.”
The rally kicks off with two runs over a short spectator stage at Aberystwyth seafront on Friday evening. Saturday is the longest day, with 124 kilometres of competitive action, consisting of two loops of three stages, followed by two further runs through Aberystwyth. Two loops of two stages form the Sunday route, and the podium celebrations are scheduled to take place on Aberystwyth Promenade just after 3pm.
Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin are supported by M Group of Companies, Lyons Motor Group, Shane Casey Electrical Services, Molson Equipment, Pirelli, EARS Motorsport Ireland, Cronin’s Centra (Ballylickey, Union Hall, Leap, Millstreet and Dundrum), Cronin’s HomeValue Hardware, Westlink Service Station and Daybreak Shop, Cremin Coaches, Keohane Seafoods, M-Sport and Wurth Ireland. Their Ford Fiesta Rally 2 is prepared and run by Tom Gahan Motorsport
