Keith Cronin makes positive start at Rally Isle of Man

Cork driver Keith Cronin in the M-Sport Ford Fiesta R5 faces a difficult task in winning a fourth British Rally Championship crown that will be decided over the two-leg 138.com Rally Isle of Man that began last night.

The Ballylickey driver and his Killarney co-driver Mikie Galvin must win both legs and also hope that the current leader of the Prestone-backed series Sweden’s Fredrik Ahlin (Skoda Fabia R5) is outside the top four on one of the two legs that count as separate rounds of the Prestone backed series.

Yet, Cronin could scarcely gave asked for a better start. He punched in the best time on last night’s opening stage, Marine Drive where he was 1.4 seconds ahead of the similar car of Matthew Edwards, with Ahlin 1.9 seconds further behind. Another fastest time on SS 2, Clanna Road (9.6 miles) pushed Cronin’s advantage to 3.6 seconds and while the top three remained unchanged, Ahlin lost ground in terms of time and was 13.6 seconds off the lead. The short spectator stage at Villa Marina went the way of another BRC registered competitor, Alex Laffey (Fiesta R5) as Cronin and Edwards set the same time while Ahlin lost another three seconds to Cronin but remained a solid third.