Motorsport: Cronin hoping for home comforts at West Cork Rally

The event is the first round of the NAPA Auto Parts Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.

Ballylickey's Keith Cronin (right) and his Killarney co-driver Mikie Galvin are the top seeds in this weekend's Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally. Picture: Martin Walsh.

A week that began with a fuel fiasco ends with prospect of an exciting three-day Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally that, due to the postponement of the Corrib Oil Galway International Rally, is the first round of the NAPA Auto Parts Irish Tarmac Rally Championship. Title holder Keith Cronin will give his Citroen C3 Rally2 its Irish debut as the top seed within a quartet that also features Welsh ace Matt Edwards, former champion Monaghan's Josh Moffett and European Rally Championship returnee Jon Armstrong.

It's a fascinating foursome and while Cronin, geographically at least, will be on home ground, Moffett probably has the most experience of the West Cork terrain. "There's no easy rally, it's a long rally. There will be nothing between us, it will come down to the smaller moments like a puncture or a problem.' said Cronin, who was relatively pleased with his first outing with the French marque at the opening round of the Probite British Rally Championship in Yorkshire last month. "The road surface in West Cork will be very different to what we experienced in Yorkshire, we will do a bit of tweaking, generally, the roads here (West Cork) feel good, there are a lot of good stages."