Devine’s Second Circuit Victory
Callum Devine and Noel O’Suillivan claimed their second Circuit of Ireland win in three years last month. The Derry/Kerry crew won the rally in 2023 with their VW Polo GTI R5, this year they had the latest Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 at their disposal.
The 2025 version of the UAC’s flagship event was based in the County Tyrone town of Dungannon once again. In fact the rally used exactly the same four stages as last year’s one-day event, but this time in a two-day format. On Good Friday, Ivy Hill (7.22 miles) was used twice while on the following day we had Drummond (8.09 miles), The Hollow (9.1 miles) and Sweathouse (9.34 miles) all run three times.
Although there was no overall sponsor, local businesses gave their support to each of the individual stages. The Circuit of Ireland was round two of the 2025 NAPA Irish Tarmac Championship and had just 89 starters. In complete contrast, the third round, Killarney’s Rally of the Lakes attracted an entry of 160 cars. Incidentally, the Circuit’s organisers, the Ulster Automobile Club is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year having been established in 1925.
The weather on Good Friday was atrocious. Heavy rain all day made conditions tremendously tricky for everyone, including the stage marshals. Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin set the initial pace in their Citroen C3 Rally2, they led Callum Devine by 9.8 seconds overnight.
On Saturday morning the heavy rain continued to fall at the start of SS3 Drummond. Victor and myself were on radio here and had BMMC rescue for company. The weather gradually improved throughout the day, although the stages remained very slippery and treacherous. Despite this, the three runs of Drummond ran exactly to schedule and without incident. BMMC/BRMC members were covering timekeeping, stage marshalling and other official duties over the two days.
As Day-Two wore on, it looked as if Keith Cronin had the rally under control and was heading for his first COI win, but then came the penultimate stage. Going into SS10, the final run over The Hollow, the Co. Cork man led Callum Devine by 38 seconds with last year’s winners Matt Edwards/David Moynihan third in their Hyundai i20 Rally2 and the older Skoda Fabia R5 of Eddie Doherty/Tom Murphy fourth. By the end of stage ten everything had changed.
Edwards broke his suspension and Doherty had a double puncture. Both of them failed to emerge from SS10 while leader Cronin had brake problems AND a puncture which dropped him way down the leaderboard. Keith eventually finished the rally in 8th place.
All the carnage on stage ten left a surprised Devine leading the rally with just one test remaining. Moving up three places to second was the Ford Fiesta Rally2 of Garry Jennings and Rory Kennedy. David Kelly/Arthur Kierans were third in their VW Polo GTI R5, and that’s the way it finished. Top 2WD finishers were Barry Morris and Darren Curran in their Darrian T90 GTR+ in 9th place.
Callum Devine/Noel O’Sullivan unexpectedly had their second Circuit of Ireland victory by 1 minute and 24.9 seconds. Second place for Garry Jennings/Rory Kennedy topped off a very successful April for the Fermanagh/Donegal pairing. Earlier in the month they won both the Tour of the Sperrins and the Manx Rally in their brand new Fiesta Rally2. There were just 54 finishers in the main event. A further 9 cars started the Saturday-only Junior Rally, but just 5 finished.
THE TOUR OF THE SPERRINS on Saturday 5th April attracted a maximum entry of 110 cars. Sponsored by “Go” fuels for the fifth time, this was round two of the Brown & Brown Northern Ireland Rally Championship. WRC star Josh McErlean, who won here last year, placed a very late entry in a borrowed Ford Fiesta Rally2.
Running first on the road the Kilrea driver unfortunately retired on stage one with gearbox problems. This left Garry Jennings/Rory Kennedy in front with their new “Go” fuels sponsored Fiesta Rally2. The pair dominated the rally, finishing almost 17 seconds ahead of the VW Polo GTI R5 crewed by Aidan Wray and Paddy McCrudden. Ryan Caldwell and Stephen O’Brien were third in a new Skoda Fabia RS Rally2. Best of the 2WD cars was the Mk.2 Escort of Gareth Irwin/Justin McAuley who finished 8th.
Aaron McLaughlin and Darren Curran finished the rally back in 13th place but that was enough for the VW Polo GTI R5 crew to claim maximum NI Championship round two points. A great start to the year for the Donegal pair, who of course won round one at Bishopscourt. Second in both the driver & co-driver tables are another Donegal pairing, Conor Wilson and Kyle McDaid in their Hyundai i20 R5.
Based in Magherafelt and organised by the local Motor Club, the Tour of the Sperrins consisted of two loops of three closed-road stages totalling 42 competitive miles. I was covering start radio on SS2/5 the 7.62 miles of Creevagh near Cookstown. The weather was fantastic for early April, warm and sunny all day. No problems for us with both stages running almost to schedule and without incident. Other BMMC/BRMC club members were also assisting in various rolls on the event.
Rally Diary
Sat. 24th May
Eakin Bros. Maiden City Stages Rally
Round 3 of the Brown & Brown MSUK ANICC Northern Ireland Rally Championship. This closed-road event is Organised by Maiden City Motor Club. There are seven stages, one run three times and two run twice. The rally will be based at the City of Derry Rugby Club in the Maydown area of Londonderry. We are providing marshals, rescue and radio cover plus other officials. A maximum entry of 91 cars are due to start. Leading entries include Aaron McLaughlin and Derek McGarrity both listed as driving VW Polo GTI R5’s. McGarrity missed the Sperrins so he will hope to get his championship challenge back on track here.
