The Stellantis Rally Cup Ireland championship battle has been blown wide open after a dramatic Wexford Stages Rally produced two separate winners and two valuable sets of championship points.
Round four of the inaugural Irish-only championship was unique on the calendar, with Wexford’s two-day format providing crews with two opportunities to score points. Saturday’s nine-stage classification was used to award the first set of points, before the clocks were reset on Sunday for a second standalone points-scoring contest based solely on the accumulated times from the final day.
It meant two drivers would leave Wexford with a Stellantis Rally Cup Ireland victory to their name, with Danny Brady and Liam Callaghan taking Saturday honours before Robert Cronin and Paddy Heffernan claimed the Sunday win.
The battle for the championship was already wide open before the start, with runaway series leaders Oran England and Darragh Mullen forced to miss Wexford following England’s sizeable off on Rali Ceredigion. Having won every round of the Irish championship prior to Wexford, their absence presented the chasing pack with a major opportunity to close the gap.
Jack Byrne and Tommy Hayes made the perfect start to taking advantage, setting the pace on Saturday’s damp opening 10-kilometre test in their Peugeot 208 Rally4. They were just one second ahead of Brady and Sheridan, before repeating the feat on the second stage to establish an early advantage.
Their charge came to an abrupt end on the third test, however, when Byrne left the road, promoting Brady into the lead.
Robert Cronin and Paddy Heffernan were also forced into recovery mode after a small front-end impact with their Opel Corsa Rally4 cost them almost 40 seconds. That left John O’Rourke enjoying an impressive run in third at first service, with Jack Kennedy fourth.
Cronin refused to give up the fight, steadily eating into Brady’s advantage as the day progressed and reducing the gap to 25 seconds at one stage. Brady remained composed, though, and held on through the final stages to secure Saturday’s victory and his first Stellantis Rally Cup Ireland win.
Cronin and Heffernan took second, while O’Rourke completed the Saturday podium with a strong third-place finish.
With the first set of championship points awarded, the clocks were reset for Sunday and the crews went back to zero for a second battle.
Cronin wasted no time in stamping his authority on the second contest, winning the opening two stages before Brady hit back on the third. Brady’s response was enough to move him back ahead by 3.7 seconds, while O’Rourke and Kennedy renewed their battle for the final podium position.
The fight at the front was ultimately decided on the following stage when Brady’s charge came to an abrupt end with an off.
That handed Cronin the lead, and the Corsa crew made no mistake, managing their advantage through the remaining tests to secure Sunday’s Stellantis Rally Cup Ireland victory.
O’Rourke went one better than his Saturday result to claim second, securing a season-best finish, while Kennedy also enjoyed his strongest result of the campaign in third.
Wexford therefore delivered a unique double-header within a single event, with Brady and Cronin each taking a Stellantis Rally Cup Ireland victory and valuable championship points from the weekend.
The result has dramatically tightened the title race. With England’s previously dominant run finally broken and two rounds still remaining, just 14 points now separate the top four contenders heading into the Donegal Harvest Rally and the rescheduled Stonethrowers Rally.
After England and Mullen looked to have established a commanding position with three straight victories, Wexford has changed the complexion of the championship completely and the inaugural Stellantis Rally Cup Ireland title is now very much up for grabs.
