Keelan Grogan and Ayrton Sherlock scored their maiden Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup IRE & UK victory at the Voyonic Grampian Forest Rally [August 9-10] to extend their lead in the championship.
Promoted by Race & Rally, the new-for-2024 championship for both Peugeot 208 and Opel Corsa Rally4 machinery allows drivers to compete across eight, top-class events in Ireland and the UK.
An on-event cash pot of €6,000 is available to the first five crews’ home at each event, with the winner collecting €3,000, sliding down to €500 for fourth place. The fifth-placed driver receives one Michelin Motorsport tyre from distributors Protyre Motorsport Ireland.
Plus, the Junior champion at the end of the season will receive registration to the 2025 FIA Junior European Rally Championship, entry fees to six rounds of the Junior ERC and 12 tyres per round contested in the series, worth almost €40,000.
Kyle McBride/Darragh Mullen and Ioan Lloyd/Sion Williams had an advantage over Grogan as they had visited the Scottish forests before, and sure enough McBride made good use of that knowledge to power his Peugeot into an 11.2-second lead overnight.
But Grogan was keeping his fellow Irishman honest, winning Friday’s second and final stage and keeping the more experienced Lloyd at bay as the race roared into Saturday.
The fifth special stage, Durris, would prove decisive as McBride was caught out in a fast corner, hitting a rock and crashing out of the contest. Lloyd too also ran into problems, handing Grogan a gift he was only too glad to accept. The 23-year-old held his nerve to guide his 208 home to clear victory on an extremely challenging event.
Michael Fitzgibbon/Pa Horan were non-finishers as they rolled on SS2 at a corner that caught out many others.
“I never got into the rally to be honest, I don’t know why we just never got into a rhythm, but the result fell into our hands today and we were there to pick it up,” Grogan said.
“It was a tough rally with tough stages – rough in places, a bit slippy, they had a real mixture of everything.
“It’s nice to extend our championship lead as we head to Ceredigion in three weeks’ time, hopefully we can build it there.”
The Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup IRE & UK remains in the UK for its next round, JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion, on August 30 – September 1. Crews will not only link up with the best of the British Rally Championship, but will also be in competition with the European Rally Championship runners as well – giving them an unrivalled chance to see where their pace stacks up.
Provisional Top 5 Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup IRE & UK Points after round 5 – Grampian Forest Rally
- Keelan Grogan/Ayrton Sherlock 84
- Ioan Lloyd/Sion Williams 68
- Kyle McBride/Darragh Mullen 58
- Casey Jay Coleman/Lorcan Moore 44
- Cian Caldwell/Liam Egan 30
