Rahill and Smith claim maiden Junior WRC podium
The Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy crew of Craig Rahill and Conor Smith secured their first Junior WRC podium on the Croatia Rally while County Tyrone co-driver Aaron Johnston made it back-to-back WRC victories alongside Takamoto Katsuta, snatching a last-gasp win on the final stage.
Rahill and Smith were competitive straightaway on their maiden asphalt start in the Junior WRC, setting several top-three times and a fastest time on Friday morning. The Ford Fiesta Rally3 crew remained in a fight for second with Sweden's Calle Carlberg until a puncture dropped them back to third.
They managed their pace over the remaining stages to secure the podium finish, over a minute clear of fourth, to claim a strong tally of points topped up by two stage-winning bonus points.
"We had a brilliant weekend here in Croatia," reflected Rahill. "We had one goal this weekend - to stay clean, tidy, and get to the finish with points on the board so we are delighted with the result.”
“This is definitely up there with the trickiest rally we have done and to take third in Junior WRC and score two stage wins is unbelievable.”
In WRC’s lead Rally1 category, Jon Armstrong and Shane Byrne bounced back from an unfortunate retirement on Friday to finish third in WRC's Super Sunday standings and go third-fastest on the Power Stage to score six world championship points.
The M-Sport duo challenged the overall leaders on Friday morning, setting the fastest time up until the midpoint of stage two before a tyre delamination cost around 30 seconds. The Irish crew’s pacey performance continued, narrowly missing out on their first Rally1 fastest time by 0.1 seconds on the next stage.
Unfortunately, Armstrong was forced to stop on stage four when he slid wide on loose chippings dragged onto the stage, damaging his Ford Puma Rally1’s suspension. He returned on Saturday to continue his impressive performance. In total, the MI Rally Academy crew racked up nine top-three stage times.
"I'm really happy with the pace we showed this weekend," said Armstrong. "It's been a strong and consistent performance, and it's great to come away with third on the Power Stage and pick up some valuable extra points. We're continuing to learn a lot about the car in these conditions, which will be important heading into Gran Canaria.”
Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy demonstrated their composure to finish 15th overall on their first experience of the tricky Croatian roads despite a series of setbacks. They had held fifth overall throughout most of Friday despite dirty road conditions before a puncture on stage seven forced a wheel change and dropped them down the running order.
Saturday brought further challenges with a small electrical fire on stage ten costing seven minutes, followed by punctures on stages 13 and 14, though McErlean nursed the car through without stopping.
"Croatia was a really demanding rally and, overall, it's been quite a dramatic weekend for us," said McErlean. "There are definitely positives to take though, our tarmac pace has improved and I'm starting to feel more comfortable and confident in the car on this surface. Of course, we still want to put a full clean rally together, but the speed is coming which is encouraging.”
Toyota’s Aaron Johnston had been second for most of the Croatia Rally alongside Takamoto Katsuta but snatched the win when Thierry Neuville hit a concrete block on the final stage. Their victory moves them into the lead in the WRC standings.
Irish co-driver James Fulton ended Croatia Rally with a top-five WRC2 time on its final day after dropping out of contention following an accident on Saturday.
On Spain's Rallye La Llana, William Creighton and Liam Regan made their Citroen C3 Rally2 debut ahead of their European Rally Championship campaign. The MI Rally Academy crew upped their pace throughout the ten-stage event, climbing from 14th to 7th and ending the rally with a fourth-fastest time.
"We had a good weekend getting to know the Citroen," said Creighton. "The itinerary of the rally gave us good opportunities to try different set-up options which made it a really worthwhile event. It had been a while since our last event so it was good to get some mileage in before the first round of the ERC."
Casey Jay Coleman and Killian McArdle enjoyed a close battle with Finland's Ville Vatanen for the lead Rally3 position in their Ford Fiesta Rally3. The crew was tied on time with their Finnish rivals at Rally La Llana's halfway point before a set-up change that went the wrong way put them out of the winning race, though they still managed to finish an impressive second.
"We were having a very close battle with Ville Vatanen for the class win with just 0.9 seconds of a gap after stage six," said Coleman. "Unfortunately a set-up change that didn't work for us meant we dropped a lot of time in the next loop, however it was the perfect preparation for the European Championship next week.”
Fellow Rally3 contenders Cian Caldwell and Paul McPhillips bounced back from a one-minute time penalty on Rallye La Llana's opening day by setting the fastest Rally3 time on Saturday morning. The crew continued to show impressive pace and climbed back to third in the Rally3 standings.
"We were unfortunately given a one-minute penalty on Friday night that wasn't reversed," said Caldwell. "Starting Saturday morning one minute behind we managed to set the fastest Rally3 stage time and many top-two stage times to claw back time, finishing third in the Rally3 class. Overall it was a great experience and good progress was made."