5-Star Jonny is NI Champion Again

Jonny Greer is the 2024 Northern Ireland Rally Champion. Yes I know it’s only June, but a perfect score on the “GO” Tour of the Sperrins Rally last month has insured that the Carryduff Citroen C3 Rally2 driver cannot be caught in the championship standings with one round still remaining. Greer has scored maximum NI points on all four rounds to date, and that was all he needed to do. The best four scores out of five events count.

The Tour of the Sperrins was won by Josh McErlean and James Fulton in a VW Polo R5. The local star from Kilrea and his Monaghan co-driver (fresh from second place in Rally Portugal’s WRC2 category the previous weekend) dominated the six-stage closed-road rally and in the end were 20.8 seconds ahead of the Citroen of Desi Henry/Shane Byrne who won the Maiden City Stages back in April. Jason Mitchell/Paddy McCrudden finished third in their VW Polo R5.

The top three finishers were competing in Open Class 11 cars which are much faster than the FIA Class 10 NI Championship contenders with their restricted turbos. Apparently Class 11 will be banned next year, which should insure a level playing field and a hopefully a more competitive championship.

Fourth place overall was enough to secure a fifth NI Championship for Jonny Greer and a first for his Letterkenny co-driver Naill Burns. All five of Greer’s championships have been secured in Citroen products, the first in a DS3 and all the rest in C3’s. Next target for Jonny Greer is to beat Derek McGarrity’s record of eight Northern Ireland Rally Championship titles. Jonny says it’s more than doable, but he admits it will be no mean feat.

Jason Dickson and Martin Brady were fifth in a Ford Fiesta Rally2 and scored runner up championship points putting them ahead of Aaron McLaughlin/Darren Curran who had a torrid rally in their Polo and finished way back in 28th position. These two will fight it out on the fifth and final round at the end of next month for second and third in the championship. Colin Price leads the 2WD category in his Toyota Starlet.

Kyle White and Anthony Nestor were sixth in their Hyundai i20 R5 and Jason Black/Karl Eagan finished seventh and were the first 2WD crew home in their Toyota Starlet. All together there were 95 starters and 81 finishers.

We were providing radio operators, timekeepers and rescue cover plus stage marshals for Magherafelt and District MC’s event. The weather was good with dry and sunny conditions prevailing throughout following a cold start. All six stages in counties Derry and Tyrone ran without any major problems. SS1/4 Drumshee Hill near Moneymore was 7.15 miles. SS 2/5 Corratary Hill in the Glenelly Valley was the longest at 7.65 miles. Victor and myself were on the stop line of SS3/6, the 5.76 miles of Forgetown near Tobermore, covering radio and timing. We had an uneventful day.

Creighton Leads BRC

Second place on the Jim Clark Rally (24-25 May) based in the Scottish Borders was enough to give Northern Ireland crew William Creighton and Liam Regan a 15-point lead in the 2024 British Rally Championship with three rounds remaining. Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin won the closed-road event in their Ford Fiesta Rally2. The Co.Cork crew reigniting their bid to secure a fifth British title after a poor start to the year. Of course Creighton and Regan are the current Junior World Rally Champions. With such an Irish interest, it is somewhat ironic that the BRC will not be visiting Ireland this year.

Garry Pearson/Daniel Barritt finished third on the Jim Clark making it a Ford Fiesta Rally2 1-2-3. Creighton and Regan have been second on all three rounds of the BRC to date. After a two-month break next up will be round 4 the gravel Grampian Rally in Aberdeen (9 August). The final two rounds are both in Wales, the closed-road Rali Ceredigion (31August) and the gravel Cambrian Rally (26 October)

WRC Latest News

In the World Rally Championship, Sebastian Ogier is doing a part-time season this year, but to date he has won two of the six events. Kalle Rovenpera, who won the Safari Rally, is also only taking part in certain rallies as is Esapekka Lappi the Swedish winner. I don’t understand why these competitors are allowed to take part, it just confuses everyone! Mind you if the part-timers weren’t there there would only be six Rally1 cars competing!

Thierry Neuville, Ott Tanak (Hyundai) and Elfyn Evans (Toyota) are locked in a battle for the 2024 World crown after 6 of the 13 rounds, with Neuville 18 points ahead of the other two. Ford as usual are unfortunately just making up the numbers. Tanak beat Ogier to win Rally Italy Sardinia by just 0.2 of a second. Ogier had been leading, but lost time in the final power stage with a puncture. Hyundai lead Toyota in the manufacturer standings. There may be no Rally Ireland next year but Saudi Arabia has just been added to the 2025 WRC calendar instead. Money talks one thinks!

Perhaps the surprise story of 2024 has been the competitive nature of the WRC2 section of the World Rally Championship. There are a total of 86 crews registered competing for six different manufacturer teams. Frenchman Yohan Rossel is leading in his Citroen C3, Jan Solans is second for Spain in the new Toyota Yaris while the Skoda Fabia of Sweden’s Oliver Solberg is third. Our own Josh McErlean from Kilrea (second in Portugal) is in 12th place with his Motorsport Ireland backed Skoda Fabia. Ford, VW and Hyundai are the other manufacturers in WRC2. Unfortunately the Ford Fiesta Rally2 hasn’t been very competitive this year particularly on gravel events. William Creighton was competing in Sardinia, but the current Junior World Champion from Moira finished 54th out of a total of 68 finishers.

Looking Back

40 Years Ago

Young James Gillen from Castlederg took his second Northern Ireland Autotest Championship victory by winning the 7th round of the 1984 series at Bangor’s Castle Park on Saturday 9th June. The event was organised jointly by the Autotest Drivers Club (NI) and the Northern Bank Motor Club with assistance from us in the British Motor Racing Marshals Club (NI Section). Clerk of the Course, Colin Rossborough and his team showed great aplomb when confronted on the morning of the event, with a large children’s funfair adjacent to the first (and principal) test site. On safety grounds the test was cancelled and a new one drawn up and sited elsewhere, and the event still started on time. Thirty two competitors took part including Dermot Carnegie, Frank Lenehan and Robert Woodside. James Gillen and his mentor, fellow Castlederg man Ken Irwin, dominated the event in a shared Mini Special (which incidentally was invented by Ken). In the end Gillen was 2.4 seconds ahead of Irwin after the 10 tests. William Rutherford was third in his Mini saloon while Robert Dickson finished fourth in his Metro Special.

30 Years Ago

Larne MC held the third round of the British Rallycross Championship at Nutts Corner. All the top competitors were there but it was local hero Denis Biggerstaff who won the battle of the MG Metro 6R4’s to claim victory in the Superfinal ahead of Mike Turpin, Mark Flaherty, John Moloney and Dermot Carnegie. Clive Richardson was the first non-Metro to finish when he brought his Vauxhall Astra home in sixth. BMMC marshals were out in force as usual.

20 Years Ago

On Saturday 1st May 2004 Ballynahinch and District MC organised the Drumkeeragh Forest Stages Rally, we were timekeeping and providing other marshals. Kevin Lynch won the 2004 Tour of the Sperrins Rally on Saturday 22nd May in his Subaru Impreza S9 WRC. Glenn Allen was second in his Ford Escort WRC. We were timing the Banagher stage on the gravel event. We also marshalled a Rally Time Trial at the Ecclesville Equestrian Centre in Fintona Co.Tyrone. Can’t remember who won the event. Maiden City MC held a multi-use rally in Aghadowey on 6th June. As well as stages on the local motorcycle circuit there was a closed-road stage nearby. We were timekeeping on that test.

10 Years Ago

Keith White driving his powerful 2.5 litre Ford Escort Mk1 held off a very strong challenge from Wesley Patterson’s similar engined Mk.2 example, to score a start to finish win on the 2014 Loughgall Country Park Rally. Held on Saturday 24th May the six-stage tarmac event had 57 starters and 54 finishers. We provided radio cover and stage marshals on the dry but cold day. In the end last year’s winner White finished 2.4 seconds ahead of Patterson who had never been more than 6.1 seconds down all day

Rally Diary

Fri. 21st—Sun. 23rd June
Donegal International Rally

Round 5 of the 2024 Irish Tarmac Rally Championship. Organised by Donegal MC and based in Letterkenny. 20 stages are planned. Day one features three repeated stages in the Inishowen Peninsula which haven’t been used for more than ten years. They are the classic Malin Head plus Mamore Gap and Coolcross. Saturdays eight stages are more familiar; Knockalla and Garrygort, repeated in the morning, then High Glen and Lough Keel run twice in the afternoon. Gartan, Atlantic Drive and Fanad Head are the three stages used twice on Sunday, the final day. Let’s hope the weather prevails this year. BMMC/BRMC members will be carrying out various marshalling rolls on the Wilton Recycling sponsored event, unfortunately I will not be one of them. All the leading 2024 ITRC competitors have entered. They include last year’s winner Calum Devine, Keith Cronin, Matt Edwards and the Moffett brothers. The top 20 are all in Rally2/R5 cars, in fact there are over 30 of these machines on the 162-strong entry list.

Sat. 6th July
Loughgall Stages Rally

Organised by North Armagh Motor Club, this annual Inter Club non-championship stage rally takes on a similar format to last year’s event. As was the case in 2023, a 6-mile closed-road stage (Kinnegoe) will be run three times and there are four tarmac tests in Loughgall Country Park as well, giving a total of over 31 stage-miles. Sponsored once more by PRM/RPM Motorsport. Sign-on for marshals and officials is now available on rallyscore.net or alternatively at Rally HQ; St. Luke’s Church Hall, Ballygasey Road, Loughgall on the day of the event. We are covering radio points and rescue among other things.

Sat. 20th July
Tyrone Stages Rally @ Benone

The fifth and final round of the 2024 Motorsport UK McGrady Insurance Northern Ireland Rally Championship. Organised by Cookstown Motor Club and sponsored by EuroAuto Commercials. There are 14 special stages totalling 40 miles and run on private Ministry of Defence roads at Magilligan Point in County Derry. The Tyrone Stages Rally last used these short stages in 2018. With the longest test being just 3.30 miles long, the rough-tarmac roads are narrow and quite challenging.

The 2024 Tyrone Stages Rally is based at the Benone Tourist Complex. Although Jonny Greer has already been crowned champion, the runner-up and other positions are still to be decided. We are providing radio cover, rescue and stage marshals on this one. Sigh-on via rallyscore.net as usual.

Sat. 17th August
Modern Tyres Ulster Rally

Round 6 of the 2024 Irish Tarmac Rally Championship. Organised by the Northern Ireland Motor Club and based once again in Newry Co.Down. This is the penultimate round of the ITRC and the one-day event will use four repeated well known closed-road stages. SS1/5 Shinn Bridge SS2/6 Banbridge North SS3/7 Tyrone’s Ditches SS4/8 Babylon Hill. More information in due course.