Cronin and Galvin Crowned Tarmac Champions!

Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin have secured the 2024 Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, after finishing second on today's Cork '20' Rally, the final round of the series, in the M O’Brien Group of Companies/Lyons Motor Group/Shane Casey Electrical Services Ford Fiesta Rally 2.  Victory in Cork went to Callum Devine and Noel O'Sullivan in a Skoda Fabia, who were the only crew in a position to potentially deny Cronin and Galvin the Tarmac Championship honours going into the event.  The result left both crews tied on 100 points each, but it is Cronin and Galvin who take the title on a tie-breaker.

The Cork '20' was held in treacherously wet conditions, with the Fermoy area where the stages were situated being blighted with heavy rain all day.  Devine and O'Sullivan took the lead on the first stage, but were overhauled by Cronin and Galvin on the next.  The advantage swung back again on stage three, and remained static thereafter, as Cronin and Galvin chose to do just enough to become Tarmac Champions.  The rally organisers, the Munster Car Club, took the decision to declare the event results after the end of the fifth of a planned eight stages, due to the adverse weather conditions.

Cronin and Galvin laid the foundations for their Tarmac success with victories in the first two rounds in Galway and West Cork early in the season.  They then finished second on the Circuit of Ireland, before a puncture on the Rally of the Lakes and an off on the Donegal Rally took the momentum out of their challenge.  A win on the Ulster Rally swung the pendulum back towards them, and they headed to Cronin's home county of Cork knowing that second to Devine and O'Sullivan would be enough to seal the title.

"We came here to do a job, we knew what we had to do, and we did it," said Cronin.  "It would have been all too easy to let the guard down and get into a battle with Callum and Noel for the rally win, but in doing so we could have thrown away the championship so easily.  Those were some of the wettest conditions I have ever experienced on a rally, the amount of water on the roads in places was unbelievable, we had a near miss as it was when we came on to a place on the second loop where there had been no water the first time around, we hit it and ran wide and filled a wheel with mud.  Callum had a spin towards the end too, it was just so easy for it all to go wrong.  We really have to thank the marshals, timekeepers and officials for standing out in that weather since this morning, it certainly can't have been pleasant.  Their contribution to rallying is so valuable, it not only allows us to compete, but also allows so many people to enjoy the sport.  The organisers took the correct decision to cut the rally short, the weather wasn't getting any better, the volunteers had no respite from the conditions all day, and the roads were actually getting worse.  I want to thank Mikie for his work on the notes all year, we won our first Tarmac Championship together in 2016, we won a British title the year after, and we're here again with another Tarmac Championship in 2024, there are few enough partnerships in rallying that last that long.  I also want to acknowledge the support of our various sponsors, it's not an easy task to put on a full-season challenge for any championship, without them we wouldn't be here to achieve this success.  Tom Gahan and his crew have done a top job on the car all year as well, it hasn't missed a beat all year."

Matt Edwards and David Moynihan finished in third place in both the rally and the championship in another Fiesta, while Josh McErlean and James Fulton took fourth place in Cork, in preparation for their outing on the World Championship Central European Rally in three weeks time.

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.

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