In a significant boost to the their hopes of lifting the British Rally Championship and the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship in the same year, Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin have won the Jim Clark Rally, the third round of the British series, in the Ford Fiesta Rally 2.
While they have taken two victories at home so far in 2024, and head the Tarmac points table, troubled outings on the first two BRC rounds had left the Killarney and District Motor Club crew trailing in that series’ standings.
The triumph in the Scottish Borders has pushed them back into contention for the British title, with three further rounds yet to be completed.
William Creighton and Liam Regan finished second in another Fiesta, 19.1 seconds behind Cronin and Galvin, making it an Irish one-two in the Duns based event. It is Cronin’s third win on the Jim Clark, following previous successes in 2012 and 2022, and Galvin’s second.
Pearson & Barritt claimed third while Max McRae claimed a respectable forth. Kyle McBride took the junior category win.
It was a difficult weekend for many of the other leading BRC contenders. Osian Pryce and Rhodri Evans, winners of the previous round in Wales, retired their Fiesta on Friday evening after it drowned out in a water splash.
Chris Ingram and Alex Kihurani, who had won the opening round in Lancashire, were fastest on the first four stages, and opened up a lead of over twenty seconds.
Ingram and Kihurani picked up a slow puncture and then hit a tree two corners from the end – they completed the Edrom test but suspension damage to their Volkswagen Polo GTi forced them to retire.
