Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin have secured the 2024 Irish Tarmac Rally Championship after securing a 2nd placed finish in today’s Cork ’20’ Rally in their Ford Fiesta Rally 2.
Victory in Cork went to Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan in their 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.
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.
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.
Meanwhile, Donegal driver Michael Boyle had a good run at the Cork 20 Rally – he finished in 7th position overall. Kyle McBride was 20th. Here’s the overall top 30…