Killarney and District Motor Club members Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin have confirmed their entry for the Quality Hotel West Cork Rally, the opening round of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.

This follows their second-place finish on the East Riding Rally in Yorkshire, the British championship opener over the weekend.

Cronin and Galvin, driving a Citroën C3 Rally 2 finished 23.8 seconds behind winners William Creighton and Liam Regan, and 9.2 seconds ahead of James Williams and Ross Whittock. Damp and challenging conditions made the event a tough one.
"Going into this rally, my hope was for a podium finish, so this is a good result to get the year under way, after the first couple of rounds went so badly for us in 2024," said Cronin.
"I think we struggled a bit at the start today, it's still not 100% clicking, but I think with a bit more fine tuning we'll get there. In general I'm very happy with the way things worked out. There's a lot to learn with a new car and new tyres."

The West Cork Rally on St. Patrick's weekend will now kick off the 2025 Irish Tarmac Championship, following the Galway Rally's postponement. Cronin and Galvin, the reigning Tarmac champions, won the West Cork event last year and will be aiming for a repeat victory.