Circuit of Ireland - (Sat) 30 Mar 24

Edwards/Moynihan: West Cork result a big confidence boost

Posted: March 29, 2024 9:53 AM

Matt Edwards is heading to Saturday’s Circuit of Ireland Rally with renewed confidence after an inspired performance on the West Cork Rally.
The Irish Tarmac newcomer overcame extreme elements over West Cork’s three-day event to secure a second-place finish on the second round of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship. With less than two weeks between West Cork and the Circuit of Ireland, Edwards is excited to get stuck into his latest Irish Tarmac outing.
“The result in West Cork definitely buoyed the confidence,” said the 39-year-old. “It was a much-needed result after Galway. The team put in a big effort before and after Galway so it was nice to give them some reward on the West Cork Rally.
“There has been a lot of work behind the scenes to get the confidence back and it paid off. I didn't really get involved in anything other than what I was doing during the rally. I was only focusing on getting my confidence back and it paid off with a strong runner-up finish.”
Edwards was consistently in West Cork’s top three over its 18 challenging stages. It was the perfect remedy for his early exit on Galway’s championship opener a month earlier.
Three fastest times on West Cork’s final day proved that the Welshman had put Galway’s drama to the back of his mind and had found his usually high-speed potential.
“I feel like my pace was close to where it needs to be by the end of West Cork's three days. It was comparable to Keith Cronin and William Creighton. In the tight, twisty, and even dry conditions we were there or thereabouts.
“The thing to note for me was that there was a lot less thought going into the rally. Things were happening more autonomously which is a positive sign for me. Hopefully, we can carry that forward to the Circuit of Ireland which is one day and not much time to bed in. “It is a long time since I have had two rallies so close together which will hopefully be an advantage for us. The fact that the stages are pretty much new for everyone is a good thing as well. It is just a case now of making good pacenotes and putting plenty of trust in them from the very first stage.”
The Ford Fiesta Rally2 driver moves onto round three of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship in third place, 6.5 points behind Josh Moffett.
This year’s Circuit of Ireland winner will be decided over eight classic tests between Dungannon and Armagh. Edwards will face stiff competition from regular ITRC suspects Callum Devine, Cronin, and Moffett as well as local drivers Cathan McCourt, Desi Henry, and Ryan Loughran.
“It is fair to say that we are in a more positive mindset which is great. That is thanks in no small part to Ryan Loughran at NPL Rally Hire and Marty McKenna at C&M Motorsport Sales for their support.
“A big thanks to all of the sponsors that are onboard this season - J Ryan Haulage, Swift Group, Lyons of Limerick, Pirelli Motorsport, Speedline, Ears Motorsport, Better Built Homes, GRT Hire, Witham Motorsport, KWP Partitions and Ceilings, McGrory’s Hotel, and Evermore Energy.
“It is great to be aligned with top companies who have made our Irish Tarmac bid possible. Hopefully we can bring them a few smiles this weekend.”

CRONIN/GALVIN WARY OF SHORT CIRCUIT

Posted: March 29, 2024 9:51 AM

The 2024 Irish Tarmac Rally Championship resumes on Easter Saturday with the Circuit of Ireland, which will consist of eight stages in the Dungannon area. While the compact event is currently very different to the five-day trek around the country of past decades, the Ulster Automobile Club organisers are hoping to tie-in with a club in the Republic to re-establish a cross-border element in future years. For now, competitors and fans are presented with a short, sharp challenge in the form of two loops of four stages, with one Service during the single day of competive action. Having taken victory on each of the two rounds held so far, Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin head the Tarmac standings in the M O’Brien Group of Companies/Lyons Motor Group/Shane Casey Electrical Services Ford Fiesta Rally 2.

While their Tarmac Championship challenge has been flawless to date, it was a different story on last weekend's North West Stages Rally in Lancashire, the opening round of the British Championship, which Cronin and Galvin are also tackling this year. Their Fiesta broke a driveshaft and also suffered a malfunctioning launch control system and handbrake, which combined with other issues limited the Cork-Kerry pairing to seventh place in the final results, and left the Tom Gahan Motorsport mechanics with additional work to do ahead of the Circuit of Ireland, in the short turnaround available.

"We've had the dream start to the Tarmac Championship really, with the wins in Galway and West Cork", said Cronin. "It's unusual to say it in rallying, but nothing has gone against us, the car clicked for us from the moment it arrived on the Thursday before Galway, the Pirellis are working very well, and we haven't had any spin or puncture or mechanical issue or anything like that. Then we had all of those happen to us on the North West Stages on Saturday. The nature of the sport is that you'll have days when things don't go right, sometimes it's within your control, sometimes not, but it does happen. Hopefully all the car issues that were to arise did so in Lancashire, and we can have a clean run on the Circuit. The last time I started it was in 2016, the year we won the Tarmac championship, and it was the only round we didn't finish, we actually crashed on the first stage. Obviously then I don't have any recent experience of the stages, although I understand that at least some of them on this year's rally haven't been used for even longer than that, so that may level the playing field somewhat".

Callum Devine and Noel O'Sullivan line up at number one on Saturday in their Volkswagen Polo GTi. They won the Circuit twelve months ago on their way to the 2023 Tarmac title, and will be endeavouring to recover lost ground this time following a non-finish in West Cork. Cronin and Galvin are at No. 2, and they will be followed over the Start Ramp by Matt Edwards and David Moynihan, who took second-place points in the Clonakilty event, but crashed out in Galway in February. Fourth seeds, Josh Moffett and Andy Hayes, are currently in second place in the Tarmac standings, eighteen points off Cronin and Gavin. They have had a somewhat subdued start to the year, but did begin to get their new Citroen C3 working to their liking on the final day in West Cork.

"It will certainly be a sprint rather than a marathon, with only eight stages there will be no room for complacency at the start or easing into it gently, everyone will have to be on it from the beginning", says Cronin. "I think there will be around 67 stage miles, the Saturday route alone in West Cork was longer than that. Any mishap at all could ruin your chances of a result, there might not be the distance to make the time back. By way of example, Callum and Noel were ahead of us after the Friday evening stages on the West Cork, we managed to get past them on the Saturday morning, but if that was to happen on the Circuit, if they or anyone else was to pull away out front early on, then the chance to overhaul them just might not be there".

Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin are supported by M O’Brien 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.

Intense Irish Tarmac season continues on Circuit of Ireland

Posted: March 25, 2024 3:12 PM

Samdec Security International ITRC
The Irish Tarmac Rally Championship heads for its third round of the season on Saturday’s Circuit of Ireland Rally.
The Tyrone-based event takes place only two weeks after the West Cork Rally. Eight challenging stages will decide this year’s Circuit of Ireland winner.
Keith Cronin entered this year’s Irish Tarmac Rally Championship hoping to bed himself back into home competition. Two rounds in, the Ballylickey driver has blown away the opposition with two dominant victories in Galway and West Cork.
As the seven-round Samdec Security International series heads north to the Circuit of Ireland, who can stop Cronin and co-driver Mikie Galvin from making it a hat-trick of Irish Tarmac wins in 2024?
Seeded first, 2024 Circuit of Ireland winners and reigning Irish Tarmac Champions, Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan will hope the Tyrone stages reignite their championship challenge.
The Circuit was Devine’s first win of the season 12 months ago. The Volkswagen Polo R5 man secured his best-ever Galway Rally result in February and started out on top after West Cork’s opening day of action.
A puncture and retirement dashed Devine’s West Cork’s hopes, giving him an uphill task to overhaul Cronin’s early ITRC advantage. The Circuit of Ireland, Killarney Rally of the Lakes, and Donegal International Rally are arguably Devine and O’Sullivan’s three strongest events. If they can assert their power from now until June it could very well flip the title script on its head.
Matt Edwards and David Moynihan are seeded third for the Circuit of Ireland after a crucial runner-up finish in West Cork. The three-time British Rally Champion utilised the three-day rally to get back up to speed after his Galway retirement and his second-place result was just reward for a faultless display of driving. Now Edwards will hope to show he can match Ireland’s top drivers over a single day of high-paced rallying.
Running fourth on the road, Josh Moffett and Andy Hayes are still hunting for their first victory in the Citroen C3 Rally2. The Monaghan driver struggled in Galway and West Cork’s wet conditions but showed his stage-winning speed when the roads dried out. If the sun is out over Easter weekend, perhaps it will entice Moffett to push for that maiden win aboard his Citroen.
Ryan Loughran, Jonny Greer, Desi Henry, and Cathan McCourt will be familiar with the Tyrone terrain and on their day more than capable of challenging ITRC’s frontrunners. With Garry Jennings completing the top ten, the 2024 Circuit of Ireland is set to be a fascinating day of rally action.

McEvoy Motorsport Modified ITRC
Kevin Kelleher leads the McEvoy Motorsport Modified ITRC standings after two solid results on the opening two rounds. Kelleher’s championship lead will come under threat from fellow campaigners Conor Murphy, Frank Kelly, and Damian Toner.
Kelly and Murphy enjoyed a close encounter in Galway but both retired early on in West Cork while Toner grabbed second-place points on round two, his first event of the year.
Jason Black and David Moffett’s pair of Toyota Starlets will spice the two-wheel-drive competition up as Mark Alcorn, Johno Doogan, Damien Tourish, Camillus Bradley, and Dessie Keenan are just some of the Ford Escort flyers taking on this year’s Circuit.
It has been a while since so many freakishly fast rear-wheel-drive entertainers have started a rally in Northern Ireland so the local spectators are in for a real treat.

Sherwood Engines Historic ITRC
Tomas Davies topped off what has been a strong start to his Irish Tarmac campaign with his first ITRC win in several years on the West Cork Historic Rally. Davies scored third- and second-place points in Killarney and Galway respectively but went one better in tough West Cork conditions earlier in March.
Seeded 50th for the Circuit of Ireland, Davies leads the Historic contingent from Hugh McQuaid, last year’s Circuit winner Trevor Wilson, and Subaru sensation Ray Breen. Andy Johnston, Alan Jardine, and Craig MacWilliam continue what is a superb array of historic rally cars set to battle over Saturday’s Circuit of Ireland stages.

Spectator Sportity Password

Posted: March 25, 2024 3:07 PM

Seeded Entry List

Posted: March 21, 2024 4:47 PM

1 Callum Devine/Noel O Sullivan (Volkswagen Polo GTi R5) [10]
2 Keith Cronin/Mikie Galvin (Ford Fiesta Rally2) [10]
3 Matt Edwards/Dave Moynihan (Ford Fiesta Rally2) [10]
4 Josh Moffett/Andy Hayes (Citroen C3 Rally2) [10]
5 Ryan Loughran/Gareth Doherty (Ford Fiesta Rally2) [10]
6 Jonathan Greer/Niall Burns (Citroen C3 Rally2) [10]
7 Desi Henry/Shane Byrne (Citroen C3 Rally2) [10]
8 Cathan McCourt/Brian Hoy (TBA) [10]
9 David Kelly/Dean O' Sullivan (Volkswagen Polo GTi R5) [10]
10 Garry Jennings/TBA (Ford Fiesta Rally2) [10]
11 Eddie Doherty/Tom Murphy (Skoda Fabia R5) [10]
12 James Ford/Neil Shanks (Citroen C3 Rally2) [10]
14 Jason Mitchell/Paddy McCrudden (Volkswagen Polo GTi R5) [10]
15 Alan Carmichael/Ivor Lamont (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) [10]
16 Mark Alcorn/Darren O Brien (Ford Escort) [7]
17 Jason Black/Karl Egan (Toyota Starlet) [7]
18 Frank Kelly/Lauren Kelly (Ford Escort Mk2) [7]
19 Conor Murphy/Sean Collins (Ford Escort) [7]
20 Joseph McGonigle/Ciaran Geaney (Citroen C3 Rally2) [10]
21 Niall Henry/Barney Mitchell (Ford Fiesta Rally2) [10]
22 Martin Cairns/Tba Tba (Ford Fiesta Rally2) [11]
23 Niall Devine/Tba Tba (Ford Fiesta R5) [11]
24 Paidí Hamill/Martin Harte (Ford Fiesta R5) [10]
25 Shane Murray/Gary Hade (Ford Fiesta R5) [10]
26 Johno Doogan/Paul Lennon (Ford Escort) [7]
27 Damien Tourish/Domhnall McAlaney (Ford Escort Mk2) [7]
28 David Moffett/Martin Connolly (Toyota Starlet) [7]
29 Camillus Bradley/Crawford Henderson (Ford Escort) [7]
30 Damian Toner/Aodhan Gallagher (Ford Escort) [7]
31 Dessie Keenan/Jason McKenna (Ford Escort Mk2) [7]
32 Adrian Hetherington/Ronan O'Neill (Ford Escort) [7]
33 Barry Morris/Dylan Doonan (Darrian T90 GTR+) [7]
34 Ryan MacHugh/Declan Boyle (Ford Fiesta Rally4) [2A]
35 Keelan Grogan/Ayrton Sherlock (Peugeot 208) [2A]
36 Cian Caldwell/Liam Egan (Peugeot 208 Rally4) [2A]
37 John O'Rourke/Kenneth Blanche (Opel Corsa) [2A]
38 Conor McCrossan/David Burns (Ford Fiesta Rally2) [10]
39 Chris Ford/Neil Colman (Citroen C3 Rally2) [11]
40 Kevin Wilson/Katie Wilson (Hyundai i20 R5) [10]
41 Oliver Benton/Kyle Diffin (Ford Escort) [6]
42 Gareth Black/Connor Dunlop (Toyota Starlet) [6]
43 Kevin Kelleher/Thomas Ryan (Ford Escort Mk2) [7]
44 John Devlin/John McCarthy (Ford Escort Mk2) [6]
45 Alastair Cochrane/Tba Tba (Ford Escort) [6]
46 Jonny Cargo/Mo Downey (Ford Escort Mk2) [6]
47 Chris McGurk/Mark McGeehan (Ford Fiesta Rally2) [10]
48 Owen Mallon/Shaun Scullion (Ford Fiesta Rally2) [10]
49 James McCarville/Gary McKenna (Ford Escort) [6]
50 Tomas Davies/Shane Buckley (Ford Escort MK2 RS1800) [1]
51 Hugh McQuaid/Martin Byrne (Ford Escort MK2 RS1800) [1]
52 Trevor Wilson/Paul Mulholland (BMW M3) [1]
53 Ray Breen/Martin Brady (Subaru Legacy RS) [8]
54 MacWalsh/Stephen Tinney (Ford Escort) [6]
55 Arthur Kierans/Shane Maguire282 (Ford Escort Mk2) [6]
56 Gary Cairns/Tba Tba (Skoda Fabia R5) [9]
57 Shane Cullen/Stephen Reynolds (Ford Escort) [7]
58 Gerard Browne/Keith Harris (Ford Escort Mk2) [7]
59 Bryan Jardine/Tbc Tbc (Ford Escort) [7]
60 Eamonn McGuigan/Michael Moran (Ford Escort) [5]
61 Jonathan Strain/Scott Strain (Peugeot 205) [5]
62 Joe Hegarty/David Turkington (Ford Escort) [6]
63 Cathal Mulgrew/Alexander Cochrane (Ford Escort) [6]
64 Kevin Quinn/Chris Corr (Ford Escort) [6]
65 Paul McKenna/Tbc Tbc (Ford Escort Mk2) [5]
66 Paddy McVeigh/Gary McElhinney (Toyota Starlet RWD) [5]
67 Michael Stirrup/Sean Devlin (Toyota Corolla KE25) [6]
68 Andy Johnson/George McMillen (Vauxhall Chevette HSR) [1]
69 Iarla Carty/Jack Carty (Opel Adam) [2A]
70 Richard O'Lone/James Turkington (Ford Fiesta Rally3) [9]
71 Alan Jardine/Raymond Knox (Ford Escort Mk1 RS1600) [1]
72 Jonathan Wright/Kaine Treanor (Ford Escort Mk2) [6]
73 Anthony O'Brien/Michael Laverty (Toyota Corolla) [4]
74 Philip Hamilton/Damian Kelly (Ford Escort Mk2) [5]
75 Ryan McArdle/Domhnall Lennon (Ford Escort) [5]
76 Mark McGrath/Ryan Girvan (Ford Escort Mk2) [5]
77 Stephen Conn/Tbc Tbc (BMW 1M) [7]
78 Alan McMahon/Shane Maguire (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6) [8]
79 Richard Somerville/John Nicholl (Ford Escort) [6]
80 Liam McQuaid/Mervyn Galbraith (Ford Escort) [5]
81 Colm Browne/Michael Browne (Ford Escort) [5]
82 Adam Doherty/Michael Ward (Nissan Micra) [3]
83 Seamus Goodfellow/Declan Campbell (Ford Fiesta) [2A]
84 Darragh Kelly/Ashley Boulton (Peugeot 208 R2) [4]
85 Se Og Martin/Sean Marsh (Peugeot 208 Rally4) [2A]
86 Craig MacWilliam/Guy MacWilliam (Ford Escort Mk1 RS1600) [1]
87 Simon Gordon/W John Henderson (Vauxhall Astra) [6]
88 John Adams/Ian Kidd (Ford Escort MK2 RS1800) [1]
89 Eamon McLaughlin/Steven Boyle (Vauxhall Nova) [3]
90 Joshua Baird/John Henderson (Vauxhall Corsa) [3]
91 John McCullough/Rachael McCullough (Ford Escort Mk2) [1]
92 Jonni McDaid/Tony McGovern (Talbot Samba Gp B) [1]
93 Alex McNaughton/Dion Coyle (Ford Escort Mk2) [5]
94 Pauric Mohan/Jarlath Kelly (Ford Escort) [5]
95 Peter McCullagh/Sean Brunton (Ford Escort MK2 RS1800) [1]
96 Noel Vallely/Neill Vallely (Toyota Corolla) [5]
97 Brian Carson/Adam Carson (Austin Mini Cooper S) [1]
98 Brian Crawford/Finian Hannigan (Talbot Sunbeam) [1]
99 Johna Callaghan/Oran Taylor (Ford Escort Mk2) [4]
100 Malcolm Pedlow/Billy Regan (BMW 2002tii) [1]
101 Sarah Hunter/James Braithwaite (Ford Fiesta R2T) [4]
102 Donna McElherron/Ciara Duggan (Austin Mini) [3]

On Line Entry / Regulations / Sportity

Posted: March 12, 2024 7:48 AM

On Line Entry

On Line Entry System by RallyScore