William Creighton takes inaugural victory in a round of Probite British Rally Championship

Meanwhile, the Monaghan pairing of Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes (Subaru Impreza) won the Cavan Navigation Rally

Sun, 23 Feb, 2025 - 20:00

Martin Walsh

Former Junior World rally champion William Creighton took his inaugural victory in a round of the Probite British Rally Championship with a start to finish win on the East Riding Rally in Yorkshire, the opening round of the series.

Debuting a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 and co-driven by Liam Regan, they finished 23.8 seconds ahead of the Citroen C3 Rally2 of Ballylickey's Keith Cronin and Killarney's Mikie Galvin to secure an Irish 1-2.

Newcastle Emlyn driver James Williams (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) co-driven by Ross Whittock 9.2s further behind in third.

Donegal's Kyle McBride (Peugeot 208 Rally4) won the Junior category - 9.4s ahead of the similar car of Billy Coleman award winner Cavan's Craig Rahill.

In dry but very slippery conditions Creighton dominated the morning's four stages where he was quickest on all and culminating with an advantage of 18.7s.

The Moira driver remarked that he was cagey particularly on the opening stage as he adapted to his first competitive outing in the MEM run Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 car.

Cronin, also acclimatising to a new car - a Citroen C3 Rally2, along with new tyre type (Michelin) - was ultra-cautious.

After the opening 7.8mile stage Cronin was down in fifth place with second place Garry Pearson followed by James Williams and Max McRae (Ford Fiesta Rally2), who was 0.4s ahead of Cronin after four stages, all the drivers commenting on the greasy nature of the second half of the stage.

McRae clouted the front right of his Ford Fiesta Rally2 after it ran wide on SS4, Pearson experienced a small off.

There was little between Creighton and Cronin on both runs over the short spectator stage. Out on SS7, a repeat of the morning opener, Creighton again held sway and added more precious seconds to his lead that stood at 24.6s.

"Just got to be smart." he commented at the stage finish. Cronin remained second but Williams was only 4.9s behind with Meirion Evans (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) edging past Pearson into fourth.

Wet conditions prevailed for the closing trio of stages where Creighton continued to reign supreme with the exception of the penultimate stage where Cronin was quickest of the BRC contenders on the 3.29 mile test by 1.5s as a delighted Creighton registered his maiden victory in a round of the BRC.

"I really don't know what to say to be honest, I'm just really, really happy, first rally in the car and we haven't done much before (testing) it was really tricky conditions.

"This (car) felt good, so excited as to what's to come, thanks to Liam (Regan) for doing a great job, he kept me on the straight and narrow.

"I had no idea what to expect, how long it was going to take us to have a bit of confidence in what we are doing. Fair play to Toyota for building this car, it's some bit of kit."

Second placed Cronin was also quite happy.

"At the start of the rally I was hoping for a podium finish as we had such a bad start to the season last year.

"We struggled a bit at the start, it's (the car) still not a hundred percent but a little more fine tuning and we will get there.

"There was a lot to learn (new car, new tyres) in my younger days I probably would have taken a few risks but now I want to feel my way into things."

Meanwhile, the Monaghan pairing of Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes (Subaru Impreza) won the Cavan Navigation Rally, the seventh and penultimate round of the Motorsport Ireland National Navigation series.

A plot and bash section from Time Points 26 to 28 close to the finish near Cornafean ultimately decided the outcome of the event.

Duffy/Hughes finished with four penalties, two less than another all-Monaghan crew Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan.

National series leaders Longford's Shane Dalton and Monaghan's Ryan Treanor with six penalties, were third.

Reigning champions Monaghan's Andy Mackarel and Limerick's Greg Shinnors had a fraught event and finished down in sixth place with 25 penalties.

East Riding Stages Rally (Round 1: Probite British Rally Championship) Beverley, Yorkshire

1.W. Creighton/L. Regan (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) 41m. 03.6s

2. K. Cronin/M. Galvin (Citroën C3 Rally2)+ 23.2s

3. J. Williams/R. Whittock (Hyundai i20 N Rally2)+33.0s

4. M. Evans/D. Furniss (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2)+39.5s

5. C. Black/J. Morton (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+48.3s

6. R. Jürgenson/ S. Oja (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+57.0.

Cavan Navigation Rally (Round 7, Motorsport Ireland National Navigation Trial Championship) Cornafean, Co. Cavan