Dust and fog, sunshine and rain. Over eight blisteringly quick stages across the Ballyhoura Mountains, the 2024 Jim Walsh Cork Forest Rally delivered one of the most drama filled days in recent years, and it could play a massive role in the outcome of the 2024 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship.
Based out of the Mallow Autograss complex, the Cork Motor Club event attracted a bumper entry of 104 starters, and the mood was buoyant heading into the quick forest and windfarm roads that criss-cross the Ballyhoura Mountains and deliver a remarkably compact route for competitors.
With the dust fluing and the sun shining, it would be Gareth Mimnagh & Barry McCarney who would go fastest over the opening Ballinaboola test, but the impressive start would be short lived as the pair would retire on Stage 2, as would Championship leaders Jordan Hone & Paul Hone, their Ford Fiesta R5 leaving the road in a high-speed accident but thankfully the crew walked away unharmed.
The tightness at the top of the time sheets was remarkable, with every stage seeming to bring a new leader. Vivian Hamill & Andrew Grennan led at the first service halt, before Niall McGonigle & Caolan McKenna jumped up to the top after stage three, but by halfway it would be the VW Polo GTi R5 of Jason Mitchell & Paddy McCrudden who held a lead that they maintain right to the finish.
Having seen first time winners in both opening rounds this season, Mitchell & McCrudden are the latest to join the exclusive list of winners in Irish Forest Rally Championship history, and by the end of the 82km Cork Forest Rally they had 10.4 seconds to spare over their InSport teammates Niall McGonigle & Caolan McKenna.
Finishing in third place, Derek Mackarel & Eamonn Creedon now lead the 2024 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship standings with three of the six rounds now complete, but Niall McGonigle & Caolan McKenna have really launched themselves back into the title hunt after also finishing on the podium in Round 1.
In the 2WD battle, it was a truly titanic battle all day between the big-powered RWD machines that are perfectly suited to the fast and smooth Cork stages, and the experienced stars who put on a remarkable show. Having claimed victory in Killarney & Carrick, all eyes were on Shane McGirr & Denver Rafferty in the Lada, but they would be finally beaten by an incredibly impressive drive by David Crossan & Ben Teggart.
Trading tenths of seconds all day, the Escort of Crossan & Teggart would return home victorious by just 4.6 seconds, and with it secure the Cork Forest 2WD title for Crossan seven years after he last won it guided by the late Damien Fleming in 2017. The 2WD podium would be rounded out by Sam Stewart & Stephen Peoples in another Escort, and they would also grab the ‘Drive of the Day’ by beating Crossan by 0.8 seconds on Stage 3!
In the J1000 battle, it would by top step of the podium again for Oisin McShane & Fabian McShane as they continue their remarkable debut year in the series, they would hve 20 seconds to spare over Tommy Cronin & Derek Butler with David Travers & Andy Purser finishing a fine third, a result massively deserved after a run of bad luck on previous rounds.
After a brilliant Cork Forest Rally, the 2024 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally heads North for a duo of high-speed classics, with the Lakelands Forest Rally up first September 7th before The Bushwhacker Rally on September 21st, before we wrap up the season with the Clare Forest Rally on October 5th.
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