DMACK Tarmac Victory as Cronin Wins in Belgium
• Keith Cronin wins round four of BRC in Belgium.
• His first BRC victory since 2012.
• Led for all but one stage to take eighth consecutive wins for DMACK.
• Third different DMACK driver to win in 2017.
DMACK continued its dominance of the MSA British Rally Championship after Ireland’s Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin took overall victory on round four of the championship at the Ypres Rally in Belgium this weekend.
Triple BRC champion Cronin steered his M-Sport Ford Fiesta R5 to a one minute 27-second victory after winning eight of the 20 special stages on tricky asphalt roads. He led for all but one stage and controlled the event from the front to take BRC honours for the first time since 2012.
The result allowed DMACK to maintain its winning run of eight consecutive BRC victories.
Osian Pryce and Dales Furniss finished third after a consistent performance all weekend while Fredrik Ahlin and Torstein Eriksen, leaders for one stage on Friday evening before sliding off the road, climbed back to sixth after setting eight fastest times. Drivers using DMACK tyres won all but four stages.
The 259-km route was one of the toughest challenges of the season with many drivers getting caught out on the slippery Belgian roads. The smooth asphalt stages featured many corners with deep cuts where drivers searched to find the fastest line and the alien conditions were challenging to many of the UK drivers.
Competitors used a mix of the latest soft S6+ and hard H6+ compounds of DMACK’s DMT-RC22 tyre – which was ultra-competitive on asphalt. The iconic event held around Ypres started on Friday with drivers tackling eight speed tests. It came to a conclusion tonight in the town’s historic square after a full day of competition.
Dick Cormack, DMACK managing director, said: “Well done to Keith, Mikie and M-Sport, they’ve driven a great event and controlled the pace well. It’s been a great opportunity for us to evaluate the performance of our new asphalt tyres and they’ve really exceeded expectations on a tough rally.”
Keith Cronin, Ypres Rally winner, said: “It’s fantastic to finally get a win this season. The stage times were good on Friday and today was a different rally, we had to control the pace from the front. Ypres is a great event, the atmosphere and fans make it a special place, it was right for the BRC to come here.”
