Ireland’s Keith Cronin won his second successive round of the British Rally Championship when he pipped double British champ Mark Higgins by just 2.0secs after the 102 miles of the Carlisle-based Pirelli Rally.
And there was celebration for Scottish youngster David Bogie. The 21-year-old from Dumfries, who dominated last year’s British Mitsubishi Championship, bagged a podium finish in only his second appearance in the BRC.
“I’m very happy,” Bogie, also currently lying second in the Hankook Scottish Rally Championship, beamed. “We had a few problems through the final stage, but we managed to get to the end. Second event and a podium; brilliant.
“We’re still developing the car and there are few things which surfaced this weekend which still need tweaking. The suspension is still crashing out and we were chewing up tyres pretty mercilessly. At one stage the front tyres were fit only for a silage pit.”
Cronin, meanwhile, entered the final 8.7-mile stage 2.4s adrift of Higgins’ Subaru but the Mitsubishi driver outpaced the Manxman by 4.4s to win by two seconds.
The victory means the Bantry-based driver leads Higgins by four points in the championship with Bogie third, a further six points in arrears. Bogie’s result also powered his JRM Lico Team into an 11-point lead of the British Teams’ Rally Championship.
JM