Cronin wins Bulldog Rally in Wales

Cork driver, Keith Cronin (Mitsubishi) made a superb start in his quest to win the British Rally Championship.

The 21-year-old Ballylickey driver has won the Bulldog International Rally of North Wales, the opening round of the series.

Cronin, who was co-driven by Limerick's Greg Shinnors reeled in the Subaru of former double British champion, Mark Higgins on the final pair of stages to claim a nine-second victory.

Higgins opened up a 1.1 second advantage on this morning's opening stage but Cronin, who was his closest rival, equated matters on the second test.

Out on Stage 3, Higgins set the pace and went two seconds ahead and then extended the margin to 9.5 seconds by the end of Stage 4.

However, on the penultimate test, Cronin was quickest to trim the margin to just three seconds.

On the final stage, both drivers were on the limit and both actually spin their cars.

Cronin was quickest and emerged victorious by nine seconds.

Elsewhere, Fermanagh's, Alastair Fisher, who debuted a Mitsubishi, was seventh overall.

Fellow Northern Ireland Jonathan Greer (Mitsubishi) was eighth.

Meanwhile, Kilkenny teenager, Craig Breen was the best of the Ford Fiesta SportingTrophy contenders, he was tenth in general classification.

1. Keith Cronin/Greg Shinnors (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) 1h. 20m. 59.7s.

2. Mark Higgins/Bryan Thomas (Subaru Impreza N11) 1h. 21m. 08.7s.

3. Stuart Jones/Andy Bull (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) 1h. 23m. 20.3s.

4. Adam Gould/Sebastian Marshall (Subaru Impreza N14) 1h. 24m. 09.9s.

5. David Bogie/Kevin Rae (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10) 1h. 24m. 30.6s.

6. Dave Weston (Jnr)/Neil Shanks (Subaru Impreza N14) 1h. 24m. 37.7s.

7. Alastair Fisher/Rory Kennedy (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) 1h. 24m. 42.3s.

8. Jonathan Greer/Anthony O'Conaill (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) 1h. 26m. 06.9s.

9. Tom Walster/Tim Sturla (Renault Clio) 1h. 28m. 06.9s.

10. Craig Breen/Gareth Roberts (Ford Fiesta ST) 1h. 29m. 42.4s.