British Rally Championship front runner, Keith Cronin makes a foray into France this weekend for the Citroen Racing Trophy category of Rallye Terre de Lozere. With the support of the north Cork, London domiciled businessman, Michael O’Brien, Cronin’s performance will be under scrutiny, hopefully, from his perspective, by the French manufacturer. With French ace, Mathieu Arzeno, also competing in a similar car, Cronin’s times will be compared with the local hero, who drove a Peugeot S207 S2000 to tenth place in last week’s Rally Germany.
Cronin warmed up for the event with a test at Sweet Lamb before returning to Ballylickey on Monday night last and then flying to France today (Thursday). “The hardest part will be the recce. It’s a different system there, you recce the stages once in the rally car, for instance, on Saturday morning we will recce the three stages and then compete over them twice in the afternoon. I really don’t know what to expect, I will judge my pace and hopefully pick it up through the repeat of the stages.” The rally finishes with four more stages on Sunday.
Details of the Orchard Motorsport Cork “20” International Rally will be announced tomorrow (Friday) evening. The event will be launched at the Silver Springs Moran Hotel. It is the final round of the Irish Tarmac Championship and the penultimate round of the Southern 4 Rally Championship.
In motor racing, Blarney’s, Matt Griffin continues his busy season as he races in the Merdeka 12-Hour race at the Sepang International Circuit with Clearwater Racing. Last Sunday, along with the Italian duo of Marco Cioci and Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Griffin was on the top step of the podium in the fourth round of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) Pro-Am class at Silverstone. “Silverstone is my home race as I live in Northamptonshire so it’s a circuit I know very well. I did a long double stint and managed to bring the car from fifth to the lead, Marco then brought the car home.” said Griffin, who campaigned the AF Corse Waltrip run Ferrari 458 GTE.
The Hewison Autotest Championship has a double header in Cork this weekend. On Saturday, the Munster Car Club hosts a round at Vernon Mount, Kinsale Road at 1.00pm. Sunday’s event, promoted by the Cork Motor Club, is also at the same location at 11.00am.
