Ten crews from the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy are making history this weekend at Rali Ceredigion in Wales.
This prestigious event marks the seventh round of the FIA European Rally Championship, the fifth round of the Junior European Rally Championship, the British Rally Championship, and the sixth round of the Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup.
Despite facing challenges on Saturday, Jon Armstrong and William Creighton remain determined to make their mark on the competition.
Armstrong and Eoin Treacy were consistently second-fastest over the afternoon loop of five stages but a puncture in the morning deprived them of a better overnight result;
The Ford Fiesta Rally2 crew ended the day in ninth position but their earlier issues cost them a podium finish.
Creighton, partnered with Liam Regan, suffered two punctures during the day.
An off-road excursion, after being caught out by loose gravel, also cost valuable time but the M-Sport Rally2 crew have promised to re-set overnight as Sunday counts as a new round of the British Rally Championship.
Although not members of the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy, the top Irish crew are Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin.
The Ford Fiesta Rally2 team finished the day fifth overall. More importantly, the Friday and Saturday leg of the rally counted as one round of the British Rally Championship and they finished second of the registered contenders in that category.
Cronin's Irish Tarmac Rally Championship rivals Callum Devine and Noel O'Sullivan are seventh overall in their Skoda Fabia Rally2 on their European Rally Championship return.
Irish co-driver David Moynihan is tenth overnight alongside Matt Edwards in a Ford Fieata Rally2.
Eamonn Kelly, a contender in the Junior World Rally Championship, currently leads the ERC 3 category. He and his co-driver, Rory Kennedy, made suspension adjustments throughout the day to optimize their performance.
Kelly’s performance is all the more impressive given he is well over a minute clear of recently crowned European Rally Championship ERC3 class champion Filip Kohn.
Craig Rahill, the leader of the Motorsport Ireland Junior Rally Series, has prioritised Rali Ceredigion over the Galway Summer Rally and is currently holding a strong position in the Rally4 class. He and co-driver Conor Smith ended the day sixth in the Rally4 class on his maiden outing on a tarmac rally at this level.
Ryan MacHugh and Arthur Kierans are tenth in the Rally4 class in one of the biggest rallies of the young Donegal driver’s career. However, he feels there is more to come over Sunday’s loop.
Kyle McBride and Darragh Mullen are also making their debut in the European Rally Championship but a left-front puncture on stage six cost valuable time. They are second in the Stellantis Cup element of the rally.
Cian Caldwell and Liam Egan’s Ford Fiesta Rally4 was battle-scarred after the day and they hold 12th in Rally4 class ahead of Sunday’s final loop.
In the Junior European Rally Championship category Aoife Raftery and Jack Brennan currently hold seventh and eighth places, respectively. Raftery and Hannah McKillop had to contend with a difficult handling car in the morning loop but they made improvements at the midday service and their pace dramatically increased in the afternoon.
Brennan and John McGrath are also making a strong showing in the JERC ending the day one place behind Raftery.
Keelan Grogan and Ayrton Sherlock were in the running for Stellantis Cup honours but were also caught on loose gravel and were unable to get their beached car back onto the road. They will re-join on Sunday morning under SuperRally rules.
Watch the gang in action this evening:
The rally concludes on Sunday with four more stages, starting with the 10.74km Bethania test from 08:33 local time. The Spencer Power Stage, which brings JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion to a close, is scheduled to start at 14:05.
Text By Sean Moriarty / Pics By MIRallyAcademy, PCRS & M-Sport / Video footage by ERC / Video edit by lefthand.ie
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