2009 got off to a dream start on the Sean Conlon Memorial Forestry Rally in Mitchelstown. Keith and regular nav, Greg, took the lead on the second stage and did not relinquish it for the remainder of the event. They eventually won the event by a margin of 35 seconds.

On the West Cork Rally 2009 Keith and Greg set 6 fastest times in their Group N Evo 9. This is something that has never before been achieved in a multi stage rally on the island of Ireland. They had some difficulties on the Saturday which saw them drop between 3.5 and 4 minutes but they eventually finished a strong 4th overall just behind Uncle Denis. They won Group N by nearly 10 minutes and won both rounds of the Evo Challenge comfortably.

These two events were merely a 'warming up' exercise for the main focus of the year, the British Rally Championship. This is a championship in which Irish Drivers and indeed co-drivers have featured very strongly over the years. However, this has not transpired into Championship wins as the only Irish driver to win the Championship was Billy Coleman in 1974.

The Bulldog Rally of North Wales was the first round of the 2009 British Rally Championship and Keith/Greg were running second on the road. Multiple British Champion, Mark Higgins, was the No.1 seed and took the lead on the opening stage, albeit by a slender margin of 1.1 seconds. Keith was fastest on stage two by exactly the same amount to ensure that the leading duo could not be separated when arriving to first service. Higgins managed to edge out a 2 second lead on the third stage and another 7.5 seconds on the following test to lead by 9.5 seconds at the second service. Keith reacted by taking back 6.5 seconds on the penultimate stage thereby setting up a grand finale as they were separated by just 3 seconds. Both drivers damaged a wheel at the same place on the final stage but Keith lost less time as a result and emerged from the final stage 12 seconds faster than the former British Champion to take his maiden victory on British soil.

The second round of the Championship saw Guy Wilks return to competitive action. As champion for the last two years and winner on the Pirelli rally on both those years he started from the number one berth in his Proton Satria Super 2000. Although the car was an unknown quantity on gravel, he was quickly into his stride on the first stage setting the fastest time. Keith admitted to being a little unsettled and was untidy on the stage, dropping 16 seconds to the rally leader. He headed for the second stage in 5th position as Mark Higgins, Philip Morrow and David Bogie were also ahead of him. Third fastest on that stage was enough to move him up a place past Bogie and lying fourth overnight, he was optimistic about his chances. Wilks continued to set the pace on Saturday but Keith stayed very much in contention and importantly narrowed the gap between himself and Higgins and Morrow, who departed from the action on stage 5 following an accident. This seemed to spur on the young Corkman as he set the fastest times on stages 6 and 7. Then on stage eight Wilks ran a little wide and damaged the rear of the car, however, unknown to him, he had pushed the bumper against the exhaust pipe and further on in the stage the car became engulfed in flames. Five of the following cars stopped and used their extinguishers on the flames, however, the car was gutted.

The next two stages had to be cancelled to allow the top crews renew their extinguishers which left Keith, now in second place overall, heading into the final two stages with a deficit of 10.2 seconds. In much the same way as the previous rally had transpired, Keith took back the bulk of the time (7.8 seconds)on the penultimate stage. just 2.2 seconds separated the pair entering the final stage. On that final stage both drivers pushed hard and it was the youngster who was fastest. the margin of 4.2 seconds was enough to see him win the rally by 2 seconds. This was truly a fairytale ending after a poor start.

The third round of the 2009 BRC was the Jim Clark Memorial Rally. This is the only rally on mainland GB that is run over closed public roads. It is also recognised as a specialised event that needs to be competed on for a few years before success.
It was Keith and Gregs first time competing here together and they were happy to be a strong second after the first stagre. On the second stage however, disaster struck, as they clipped a rock and suffered a puncture, causing them to lose nearly 2 minutes to Championship rival Mark Higgins. They dropped to 9th overall, but soon began a spirited comeback with a string of fastest times that brought them to within 3 seconds of the lead with three stages remaining. Unfortunately on the last loop they made an incorrect tyre choice and on the first stage of the loop the gap increased from 2.6s to 8.2 as Keith and Greg suffered a spin. Still on the wrong tyres for the penultimate stage, Keith made the decision to get the appropriate finish and dropped another 4 seconds on that stage. The final stage was run in sunshine and suited the Irish crew, however the 1.8 miles around Duns town centre was never going to be enought to make up the deficit, they were fastest by 1.8 sec from Mark Higgins to bring the highest number of fastest times this year to 19 and raise their profile amongst rally supporters after making such a spirited comeback!!

However, second place overall was their prize for the weekend!

In preparation for the Manx 2009 they decided to compete on the Ravens Rock Rally 2009. The pace of the BRC leaders was never questioned, however the Pace of the National Championship was in question after this rally as they cruised to victory, 1minute and 21 seconds ahead of their closest pursuer. Double National Champion Niall Maguire was the closest to the Group N crew and he remarked that their pace was 'unbelievable'. The remainder of the top ten was in agreement as the winning margin was considerably more than is usual on these traditionally close events. His closest Group N opposition finished the rally over 3.5mins in arrears.

The Isle of Man 2009 was always going to re-write the Rallying history books. For the first time ever an Irishman led the British Rally Championship as the second half of the championship began to unfold. Mark Higgins would make history if he won the event for the fifth time. As things transpired over an enthralling 2 days of rallying, the pendulum did swing in favour of Mark Higgins as he won the event for a fourth time.
 
The winner had to put his hand up at the finish and give full credit to Keith and Greg, who had 10 fastest times over the weekend and until their puncture on stage 18 the rally looked as if it would go down to the wire. That was not to be, however, having come to Mark Higgins home turf and set those 10 fastest times en route to second place is something the South of Ireland lads could be proud of as Mark Higgins has, in the past been fastest on all of the stages on the Island.

The Ulster International Rally was the only round of the championship that did not involve a ferry trip for the Cronin Motorsport team. With all new stages it was also poised to be the only event where both of the top contenders would be in completely unfamiliar territory. Keith and Greg set a blistering pace from the start, pulling out a 5.4 second lead on stage one. This lead had been stretched to 12 seconds by the end of stage 5 but disaster struck on the sixth stage as the car got out of line on a series of high speed bends and they crashed out of the event. The also relinquished their lead in the championship, which they had held since the opening round.

It was all to play for on the final round in Yorkshire. When dropped scores were taken into consideration and the bonus points available in Yorkshire, whoever finished in front on the final round would take the championship. In typical fashion Cronin did not disclose his thoughts to anyone, including Greg. He started stage on maximum attack and although he had a few hairy moments, when they got to the finish line they were leading the rally by 1.4 seconds, but more importantly, they led their championship rival by 13.2seconds. This lead was stretched over the next two stages and stood at 17.7 seconds before Higgins managed to claw back some time. He only managed to cut the deficit by .6 second over two stages before Keith re-asserted his authority on the event and the championship by setting another blistering time on the repeat of stage 1. Entering the final stage the Irishmen led the rally by 27seconds from Stuart Jones with Mark Higgins in third place a further 9 seconds in arrears. They cruised to the end of the final stage and took a step into the history books as they won both the rally and the championship, bridging the 35 year gap since the Millstreet Maestro had brought the championship to Ireland.

Just 12 days after winning their BRC title they again crossed the Irish Sea to compete in the Pirelli UK Star Driver Shootout and won the prize of a funded drive in next years British Rally Championship, thus ensuring that they will return to defend the title in 2010.

Kerry Mini-Stages was tackled with lucky Supporters club member, Derry O'Brien, a lifelong rally fan, competing on his first ever event. They trailed the rally leaders by 13 seconds after the second stage, however,they reduced the margin on stage 3 and  overcame a 9 second deficit on the final stage to win the rally on the tie-break rule.

The Final IRC Rally of the year, Rally Scotland was pencilled into the calender early in the year. The intention was to compete in the Evo and test the teams speed against the regular IRC Group N competitors. However, as the rally got closer the possibility of hiring an S2000 car was explored and a deal eventually was struck with PRO CAR in Italy for an Abarth Grande Punto. Some testing was included in the deal and the team flew to Italy to complete some test mileage, but this was a washout - literally, as torrential rain meant the test session was cut short.

The outing in Scotland turned out to be a disaster as the lack of testing meant that the car was not handling to Keiths liking and he had to alter his driving style to compensate. It was already going to be a steep learning curve to adapt to this very different car but this extra problem was most unwelcome. On the first real stage the team had a spin and beached the car just off the road. They were unable to select reverse gear due to an electrical problem and had to walk quite a distance to find spectators to help them regain the road. Their rally was effectively over, but they decided to continue in order to get some testing mileage in the car.

Keith however, described the car as undriveable, saying that the oversteer was unbelieveable. After another couple of spins they decided that without reverse working it was too dangerous to continue and retired from the event. It was a less than perfect finish to an otherwise perfect year.

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