County Cork Driver Keith Cronin and his Killarney co-driver Mikie Galvin will make another attempt to land the British Rally Championship for the fifth time as Saturday's Malcolm Wilson Rally in Cumbria’s Lake District marks the start of the 2023 season.
The event, named after Malcolm Wilson, the owner of M-Sport who run the Ford World Rally Team, is the first of seven rounds in the series which will take place across England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Belgium between March and October.
Cronin returns to the BRC this year with the ambition of equalling the title haul of the legendary Scot Jimmy McRae and will contest the event in the Volkswagen Polo GTi which took them to second place in the standings in 2022.
Due to the late entry of Cronin, the Cork driver is seeded at a lowly 38th place and will have great difficulty trying to register a win as the cars in front will have a distinct advantage of cleaner road to traverse.
M-Sport drivers are the top two seeds for the event, with Frenchman Adrien Fourmaux top seed and leading the field away in a Ford Fiesta Rally 2 car.
Fourmaux is the overwhelming favourite and the rally will also feature the Greek-Belgian driver Jourdan Serderidis, competing in the Rally 1 Ford Puma he rallies on various rounds of the World Rally Championship.
"It’s all been a bit last minute really, up to a few days ago I wasn’t sure if I’d be doing the rally", Cronin said of his decision to line up.
"Those of us who aren’t professional competitors have commitments and responsibilities outside of rallying and these have to be looked after as well, so it’s been fairly hectic in recent months.
"I haven't sat in a rally car since the Trackrod Rally last September, but I’m glad now that everything is in place for Saturday."
The four-time BRC champion also recognises the challenge that will be posed by Fourmaux.
"He’s holding all the aces really. He’s a World Championship driver, he’s in a works car, and he actually won this event before in 2020.
"Three of the stages are in Greystoke forest, where M-Sport does a lot of its testing, so while Adrien may be French, he really has home advantage.
"We’re not really sure yet how many BRC rounds he will be able to fit in around his World Championship schedule, if he does most of them then it will be hard to see beyond him for the title, so we need to be close to him come Saturday evening."
Irelands other competitor in the top 10 is Eamonn Kelly, with co-driver Conor Mohan, in another Volkswagen Polo GTi R5.
The Donegal driver, son of former Irish Tarmac Champion, Donagh, is the defending BRC junior champion and is now making the step up to the main class.
Another Irish crew of Johnnie Mulholland and Eoin Treacy are seeded at number 23 in their Ford Fiesta Rally 3 machine.
The Malcolm Wilson Rally crews have an early start on Saturday morning, with the first car due to leave M-Sport at 7am.
Four stages at Hobcarton, Comb, Wythop and Greystoke will be completed before the first service. Two stages follow mid-morning in Griezedale Forest, often part of Britain’s World Championship round in the past, before the second service, with two further runs through Greystoke rounding out the rally in the afternoon.
The finish ramp celebrations will take place in Penrith.
