Edwards and Moynihan hoping to repeat 2024 feat at Circuit of Ireland Rally

Last year's Circuit of Ireland Rally winners Matt Edwards/David Moynihan will be in a Hyundai i20 N Rally2 on this weekend's event, the second round of the NAPA Auto Parts Irish Tarmac Rally Championship. Pic: Martin Walsh.

Top seeds, Welsh driver Matt Edwards and his Mallow-born co-driver David Moynihan, will be aiming to secure back-to-back wins on this weekend's Circuit of Ireland Rally, the second round of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, that begins this afternoon in Dungannon.

Last year, they finished 14.4s ahead of Ballylickey's Keith Cronin and his Killarney co-driver Mike Galvin, both in Ford Fiesta Rally2 cars.

This time around, Edwards will steer a Hyundai i20 N Rally2 with Cronin at the wheel of a Citroen C3 Rally2. 

A repeat battle that was ultimately decided on tyre choice last year, is very much on the cards, but it's very unlikely that the pair will have it all their own way with the return of former winner Derry's Callum Devine, who missed last month's opening round in Clonakilty.

With just some minor changes to last year's route, Edwards proffered his thoughts in that respect. 

"We will treat it as any other rally, yes, there's a bit more familiarity for sure. The surface has changed in comparison to last year, it's better in some places and not so in other places." 

He quickly dismissed any pressure from the fact that he didn't finish last month's West Cork Rally. "One can't look back."

Identifying where the challenge will come from, he added: "We got one over Keith (Cronin) last year with the tyres so I guess he will be trying to get us back. Callum (Devine) is back so it should be a good battle.

"We will settle ourselves in on the first kilometre and take it from there."

Cronin travels north as the championship leader, having annexed the top points from the West Cork and having competed in the opening round of the British Rally Championship last Saturday, seat time is not an issue. He is keen to make amends this Easter weekend. 

"It was disappointing when we lost out on last year's Circuit, but as I said at the time, there are lots of twists and turns in championships and we got there in the end. It would be nice if we could get the job done this weekend." 

He added: "There are no guarantees. Matt (Edwards) goes well in that part of the country as we saw last year and Callum (Devine) will be very strong, he won't need any time to get back up to speed. We'll give it our best and see what it brings."

Devine, a winner in 2023, made an early exit last year and will be very determined to have his Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 at pace with Edwards and Cronin.

Monaghan's Josh Moffett (Citroen C3 Rally2), who hasn't won a round of the series since the West Cork Rally in 2023 will try to break that sequence while Kilkenny's Eddie Doherty (Skoda Fabia R5) and Kesh driver Garry Jennings (Ford Fiesta Rally2) - fresh from his victory on the Isle of Man Rally - will be hoping to stay pace with the leaders. 

Tyrone's Cathan McCourt (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) and Ryan Loughran (Ford Fiesta Rally2) along with Donegal's Declan Boyle (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) and David Kelly (VW Polo GTI R5) round out the top ten.

 There are two stages today (Friday) at 3.30pm and 6.33pm, with tomorrow's action over a loop of three stages repeated three times before the 5pm finish.

Meanwhile, fresh from his victory in the F2 feature race at Bahrain last weekend Offaly's Alex Dunne, who became the first Irish driver to win a Formula 2 race, will tackle this weekend's third round in Saudi Arabia at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. 

Racing with Rodin Motorsport the Clonbullogue teenager is second in the series, six points behind Italian Leonardo Fornaroli (Invicta Racing). 

The sprint race is tomorrow afternoon, with Sunday's feature race over 28 laps of the 6.174km circuit. Team Manager Benn Huntingford was full of praise for Dunne after last week's win. 

“It was great to hear him under control in the car and hear him having a plan for what he was doing in the race. He showed a great level of maturity there."