| Cronin edges out Higgins to take maiden British Rally Championship Victory. |
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| Written by Cronin Motorsport |
| Saturday, 28 March 2009 14:43 |
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For the second time in as many weeks there was an historic Irish Victory on Welsh soil. Last week it was the rugby heroes who overcame their Welsh counterparts to claim their first grand slam for 61 years. This time it was the turn of a young West Cork rally driver to triumph over adversaries from throughout Great Britain, as Keith Cronin and his Limerick co-driver, Greg Shinnors swept to victory on this years opening round of the British Rally Championship(BRC). Their victory in Bala in North Wales means that for only the third time in its fifty year history an Irishman leads the BRC. At just 22 years of age, Keith has been acknowledged for some time, as Irelands most talented young Rally Driver. Last year, in a mixed season he had some great results as he competed in the UK Evo Challenge, but he also had some disappointing retirements. His most outstanding result last year was also on the BRC, when he contested the International Trackrod Rally of Yorkshire. On that occasion he finished a fine third overall, being beaten only by double British Champion Guy Wilks and triple Champion, Mark Higgins. It was decided that this year he would contest the entire BRC in an effort to hone his driving skills further. On the opening stage of the rally, and the Championship, he was a mere 1.1 seconds off the pace of Mark Higgins, who is on a quest for his fourth British title. He quickly cancelled out this deficit by taking the same margin from Higgins on the second stage, so when the entered the first service the pair were jointly leading the rally. This was already shaping up to be a two horse race as there was nearly a twenty second gap to third placed driver Andreas Sjolander. On the next test Higgins eked out a two second lead. He further extended this lead on stage four where he beat the Ballylickey driver by 7.5 seconds to lead by 9.5 seconds as they entered the second service. By now, the gap to third had extended to over two minutes, and it was Stuart Jones who now occupied that position. Keith was optimistic that he could beat Higgins on stage 5, which was a re-run of stage 3. He thought however, that the final stage was more suited to the Subaru of Higgins. Back out on the stages it was the Irishman who was quickest on the penultimate test when he took 6.5 seconds from Higgins to let the gap at 3 seconds entering the final stage. Keith was worried about a rear wheel that he had bent on that fifth stage, but he did not share these concerns with Higgins, who he was hoping would push hard on the last stage and make a mistake. Higgins did indeed have an incident on that final stage where he bent a suspension when he hit a deep rut. Ironically, Keith too, damaged his car in the same place, but he did not drop much time as a result and arrived at the stage finish 12 seconds faster that Higgins to take victory by 9 seconds. Speaking at the finish, Keith said “It’s not quite sunk in yet but I couldn’t really ask for more at the start of the season.” When it was pointed out to Keith that Billy Coleman and Austin McHale were the only other Irishmen to lead the championship, he quipped “ I’d prefer to be leading at the end of the year like Billy was!” Results Leaders After Stage Winners: Join the supporters club now click on the link http://www.croninmotorsport.com/index.php/Cronin-Motorsport/cronin-motorsport-supports-club.html |
