Keith Cronin showed that he is right
back on form by taking a second win in the 2012 British Rally
Championship.
Jarkko Nikara lead after the first two
stages, which were spectator stages through Duns Town Centre. He
pulled out a lead of 1.9 secs ahead of Cronin in second place. Callum
Black was running third after the two spectator stages, pleased to be
near the lead in his newly acquired Citroen DS3. However, being only
1.2 miles in length, these counted for little in the overall results.
The proper stages would begin on Saturday morning with the infamous
Abbey St. Bathans test.
Cronin went into SS3 like a man
possessed, wiping 3 secs from the Finn and going into a 1.1 sec lead.
As a testiment to the pace of the leading pair, Peter Taylor, who
acquired third after Callum Black lost over a minute on the test, was
over half a minute off the lead.
The Abbey St. Bathans test claimed a
number of victims, but none more spectacular than Aaron Newby.
Newby's car was launched into a series of rolls, brought on by an
awkward landing after a fast jump. Both crew were fine, albeit a bit
shaken, but they went no further.
Cronin began to extend his lead when
Nikara's gearbox began to act up. It cost the Finn piles of time,
allowing Tom Cave up into second place. After SS7, Nikara found
himself down in seventh.
But the rally leader himself was in big
trouble. Cronin's brake pedal broke during the stage, but his sheer
talent and a good dose of luck kept him out of the Scottish greenery.
A make-do fix was employed by he and co-driver Marshall Clarke to get
them back to service. Afterwards the pair sensibly backed off, but
they still commanded a lead of over 40 secs to second place.
Nikara's rally came to an end when his
problematic gearbox finally failed on SS9. By this time he was over
11 mins off the lead. By the end of the day, Cronin lead by nearly a
minute over Tom Cave in second. Jonny Greer was a further minute
behind in third. Peter Taylor, Elfyn Evans and Jukka Korhonen rounded
out the Top 6. Korhonen was in his first tarmac rally, impressing in
his little Skoda Fabia R2.
On Sunday morning the crews were
greeted with a dark, ominous sky. Rain had not been present
throughout Saturday, but not for Sunday. As the slick-shod leading
cars headed into SS11, Bothwell 1, the heavens opened. And they
closed equally as quickly. This lead to some rather strange stage
times.
Cronin's brake pedal re-broke and cost
them half a minute and a trip to the scenery. 3 stages remained, and
with the brake pedal fixed properly, he decided to put the foot to
the floor and took back almost 45 secs in 3 stages. Tom Cave took
hung onto second and Jonny Greer did likewise to third, 2 mins 32
secs off the lead.
Elfyn Evans took his fourth R2 class
win from four starts in the class, continuing his dominance of the
class. Jukka Korhonen took second in class, gaining speed as the
rally progressed. Splitting the R2 cars in the overall standings were
Osian Pryce and Mark Donnelly in fifth and sixth place. Matthew
Cathcart took eighth overall and third in R2. Callum Black and Chris
Ingram rounded out the Top 10.
The tough, demanding nature of the Jim
Clark Rally stages took their toll on the crews, with 8 of the
International field succumbing to the strain. Jussi Kumpumaki ended
up in a ditch, Niko-Pekka Nieminen crashed through a fence and Nick
Allen also crashed out of the rally. Jarkko Nikara suffered a gearbox
failure, Peter Taylor's suspension broke on the penultimate test and
driveshaft failure greeted Garry Pearson on SS13.
Euan Thorburn did the double in his
Ford Focus WRC by taking wins in both the National Rally, run over
Saturday's stages, and the Reivers Rally, run over the remaining
tests. Simon Moore won the Challenge Rally while Steve Bannister took
a commanding win in the Historic Rally section.
A 6 strong field started the Jim Clark
Land Rover Rally, a regular feature of the only closed-road rally in
the BRC. The rally is run with specially prepared Land Rovers, and
always provides a spectacle. Indeed, tackling Abbey St. Bathans in a
jeep which is over a foot off of the ground would be surely a
memorable achievement! Alan Parmore won the rally by over a minute
and a half in his Land Rover Freelander.
Cronin back to winning ways
Keith Cronin showed us why he is a double British Rally
Champion last weekend, taking an exciting win in only his second event in the
Citroen DS3 R3.
Completing the rally based in the demanding Kielder Forest,
Cronin swapped the top spot with team-mate Jarkko Nikara, ultimately winning by
17.2 secs over the Finn.
Nikara took first blood with two stage wins in the first two
stages, heading team-mate Cronin by 3 secs at the end of the first day. Elfyn
Evans sat second overall, heading the Fiesta Sport Trophy in his slower R2
Fiesta.
Cronin showed his metal on Day 2, waking up with a real fire
in his belly. Fastest time over the first two stages of the day sent him into
the lead, but Nikara fought back over the next test, re-taking the lead. Cronin
went back into the lead on the very next test, but Nikara just about snatched
it back after SS8. Cronin went mental over the final four stages, swiping his
17 sec winning margin out of Nikara over the final four stages.
An elated Cronin said at the finish: “It’s been a fantastic
battle and a win always feels so much better when you have to fight for it. Once
we had settled into the new car and tweaked a few things, we had no problems at
all, so it’s been a very enjoyable rally and great to win a round of the
British Championship again. Thanks must go to Autosport Technology for getting
the car ready, Marshall my co-driver and everyone who has helped me achieve
this.”
Such was the pace of the leading pair of Citroen’s, Round 1
winner Mark Donnelly took third nearly two minutes back. Donnelly was still
re-building confidence over the rally’s 12 stages after his massive crash last
time out in Wales. Elfyn Evans’ slower Fiesta R2 succumbed to the pace of the
faster R3 cars, eventually taking fourth, 2 mins 41 secs back. He did, however,
have the consolidation of taking the Fiesta Sport Trophy win.
"I am really happy with the result. To be honest I was
surprised with our pace and overall position after the Friday night stages. We
were able to establish a good lead today [Saturday] and focused on tidying
everything up and keeping our position. We had a problem with the gear selector
bracket and had to make some roadside repairs to keep going, but thankfully we
made it to the end. It feels great to be leading the championship – especially
in an R2 specification car! I need to thank the whole team for providing me
with a great car and getting me into this position.” said Evans.
Peter Taylor took fifth in the Renault Clio R3, less than 2
secs ahead of Pirelli Star Driver Jukka Korhonen. Armed with a TEG
Sport-prepared Skoda Fabia R2, the young Finn is improving his pace rally-by-rally.
"It’s been a really good weekend, and I’ve had no
problems. We had some knowledge of the roads from last year and some of the
stages are very similar to the nature of the roads back in Finland so that has
definitely helped. I’m looking forward to the next round of the championship,
we’re not so familiar with driving on asphalt but we’re feeling ready for the
challenge.” said Korhonen.
Finnish Ford Junior Team driver Jussi Kumpumaki seventh
overall and second in the Fiesta Sport Trophy. He also took the Pirelli star
driver award for his efforts.
WRC Academy star Alastair Fisher took eighth overall, losing
time when some stones embedded themselves in the rear brakes of Fisher’s
Fiesta. Championship leader Tom Cave lost buckets of time in his DS3, as did
Jonny Greer in a similar DS3. Both drives were ninth and tenth, respectively.
Cave takes shortened BRC win
Welsh rally star Tom Cave has won his
first BRC rally, winning the Bulldog International Rally of North
Wales by 11 secs over Jarkko Nikara.
“I’ve been waiting to win an
international rally for a while, so to finally do it is fantastic –
especially on my home event. I really concentrated on making as few
mistakes as possible today and it’s paid off. After the problems I
had on Tuesday when the steering broke and I went off the road
testing my own car, I have to thank everyone who helped get another
DS3 organised in time for me to compete this weekend. Needless to
say, I am very, very happy with the result.” said the delighted
Welshman.
Cave, co-driven by Craig Parry, lead
after the second stage in their Citroen DS3 (well, a spare one, after
he crashed his normal car in a pre-event test) by 1.7 secs. The young
Welshman continued to push and extended his lead as crews reached the
service halt.
Cave came out of service like a man on
a mission, going fastest on SS7 by a massive 10 secs. However, Cave
dropped 10 secs on the very next test, dropping him into the sights
of Keith Cronin, making his BRC and 2WD return after 2 years away
from the sport.
Then, news filtered through that a BRC
Challenge car had caught fire. The police closed the road on safety
grounds, and as this was route all the competitors were to travel
down on route to SS9. The organisers re-routed the crews, but as the
rally was now 90 mins behind time, and nightfall was closing in, they
decided to cancel the last 3 stages, and so Tom Cave was declared
winner.
Keith Cronin came back with a bang,
literally. On the way back to service after the final 3 stages were
cancelled, his fuel pump failed. Jarkko Nikara also had problems,
breaking a driveshaft and hobbling back to service. Nevertheless, he
did take third.
Osian Price made it a Citroen Top 4
lockout in his DS3, 5 secs ahead of Elfyn Evans in fifth, in the
highest Ford. Sixth went to Jonny Greer, swapping his usual Skoda
Fabia S2000 for a Citroen DS3.
Jukka Korhonen took seventh in the
Pirelli Start driver Skoda Fabia R2, having lost concentration with a
false oil warning light coming on. Desi Henry lost loads of time with
a puncture on SS5, but survived to finish eighth. Ninth went to the
man who oh-so-nearly won the WRC Academy last year, before he lost it
to an inspired Craig Breen on the final round. Egon Kaur took his
Fiesta to ninth. Peter Taylor rounded out the Top 10 in his Renault
Clio R3, over 2 and a half minutes off the lead.
Some drivers who didn't make it to the
finish include Alastair Fisher, Molly Taylor and Mark Donnelly.
Fisher's Fiesta caught fire after a fuel leak ignited on SS5. Keith
Cronin stopped to help putting out the flaming Fiesta, getting, along
with the rest of the field, a nominal time afterwards. Molly Taylor
rolled her Fiesta straight out of the rally on the very first stage.
Round 1 winner and Pirelli from the
same rally Mark Donnelly was scrapping with Jarkko Nikara over the
rally lead at the start of the rally, only 2.6 secs behind after SS3.
But it all fell apart after SS4 when his car went wide after the
flying finish, caught a telegraph pole and spun, straight into a
tree. The impact was substantial, tearing off most of the front of
the car, but, due to the strength of a rally car, both Mark and
co-driver Dai Roberts were unhurt.
The MSA Junior Rally Championship
section of the rally was won by Garry Pearson, who also won round 1.
Pearson survived clattering a log-pile and a bent rear beam to hold
off the competition. Two punctures cemented second for Steve Rokland,
losing 3 mins after the pair of deflations.
Richard Skyes flew to a 47 secs win in
the Challenge Rally in his Citroen C2 R2 Max, ahead of Stephen
Smith's Peugeot 106. 25 secs further behind was Damien Smith in
third.
In the Bulldog Historic Rally, Nick
Elliott took a 16.6 secs win in his MK2 Escort over the MK1 example
of Julian Reynolds in second. Will Onions held third up until the
final stage, when he fell from the leaderboard and Kevin Davies came
though to win.
Matt Edwards took the National Rally on
board his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9, with Tom Naughton half a minute
behind in second. The World Rally-spec Mitsubishi Lancer WRC 04 of
Tristan Bailey was third, 4.8 secs behind the Group N variant of
Naughton.
Round 3 takes crews to the Pirelli
Rally in just over a months time. Global Rally News will
be covering all the action yet again!
Preparations for Rally Isle of Man hotting up
Organisers of the Rally Isle of Man are preparing the event for it's début as a autumn event, when it rounds out the British Rally Championship for the first time.
The 48th staging of the infamous tarmac event will now be held at the end of October, instead of the end of July/start of August, as has been the standard for the past decade. But, late last year, the organisers of the event decided to have the event run as the final round of the BRC, as had been before it changed dates over a decade ago.
“We know there are many people asking when the event is on, many who expect it to be in the next few weeks. Our message to all our supporters, old and new, is to gear up for October, and we hope you’ll all be a part of a new chapter for Rally Isle of Man!” said Les Postlethwaite, Rally Director.
Along with the 48th running of the Rally Isle of Man, it will be the Silver Jubilee of the Isle of Man Historic Rally, the very event that started the very popular historic rallying in Britain.
The Rally Isle of Man will take place over the 27th -29th October.
McRae to return on Pirelli
5-times British Rally Champion Jimmy McRae will return to the stages in just under three weeks when he takes part in the all-new Tuthill Porsche Challenge on the Pirelli Historic Rally.
“Pauline has co-driven for me in the past and Jimmy has done a lot of events under the JLT banner so I’m pleased to welcome them back into the team.” said John Lloyd, who was happy to be able to call up McRae and Gullick.
McRae Snr. will drive one of the two Porsche 911s run by the JLT Rally Team. JLT Team driver Andrew Barnes has a prior commitment that will keep him away from the rally. McRae is no stranger to the Porsche, having competed in last year's British Historic Rally Championship and on the Colin McRae Forest Stages in 2008.
“It’s great to have Jimmy back in one of our cars and driving in the Tuthill Porsche Challenge. Jimmy has driven for us on plenty of occasions in the past and it goes without saying that he has lots of experience. After Francois Delecour drove on the opening round of the Tuthill Porsche Challenge earlier this month, having Jimmy competing in the series is equally significant.” said Richard Tuthill, Challenge Director.
McRae has driven for Tuthill Porsche before, having driven to a superb second-place, and class win, on last year's Summer Stages Historic Rally in Barbados. He will be navigated by Pauline Gullick on the Pirelli Historic.
“Nobody knows historic Porsches better than Tuthill Porsche.” McRae said “The desire is always there to drive, the Kielder Forest is a great place to go rallying and Tuthill Porsche always prepares a good car. I’ve done a lot of testing with them in the past and had a good result in Barbados last year in one of their cars.”
The Pirelli Historic Rally runs behind the Pirelli International Rally, the second round of the BRC.
