“We looked at various options, and the Citroën came up as the best overall package for us for 2025” Keith Cronin – Motorsport.ie

Keith Cronin will defend his NAPA Auto Parts Irish Tarmac Rally Championship title in a Citroën C3 Rally 2.  The West Cork driver, who will again be navigated by Killarney’s Mikie Galvin, will line up in the French machine for the first time at the opening round of the Tarmac series, the Galway International Rally, which takes place on February 1st and 2nd.

For Cronin, the move sees him return to a marque with which he has enjoyed much success in the past.  He won his third of four British Rally Championships in a DS3 R3T in 2012, and in the same model took a WRC3 win at Rally Finland the following year.  In 2016, he and Galvin won their first Irish Tarmac Championship in a DS3 R5.

“We looked at various options, and the Citroën came up as the best overall package for us for 2025,” said Cronin.  “Their current Rally 2 car won over 130 rallies last year on every sort of surface, all over Europe, in Africa and in North and South America, and scored five WRC2 victories in the World Championship.  C3 drivers won the French, Danish, Mexican and Ivory Coast Championships.  Hopefully we can replicate that type of form with it in Ireland,” he added.

The Citroën will be prepared and run by Tom Gahan Motorsport, as was the Ford Fiesta that brought Cronin to the 2024 Tarmac title, and the Volkswagen Polo he drove in 2022 and ’23. Continuing the Gallic flavour, Cronin and Galvin will run on Michelin tyres in 2025.

In addition to committing to their Tarmac Championship campaign, Cronin and Galvin have also entered the opening round of the Probite Brakes British Rally Championship, the East Riding Stages, which falls three weeks after Galway, but they are currently on the reserve list for the Yorkshire closed road event.  “We’ll have to wait and see firstly as to whether or not we get a start,” remarked Cronin.  “If we get going, we’ll take the BRC on a round-by-round basis after that and see how things progress.”

The Galway Rally will additionally see a second Citroën bearing the Cronin name amongst the line up, as Keith’s brother Daniel will also be out in a C3 Rally 2, ahead of a tilt at the Motorsport Ireland National Rally Championship.  He and co-driver, Donnchadh Burke, took third in the 2024 National standings, and they will be aiming to improve on that once this year’s series gets under way with the Midland Rally in Longford, at the beginning of March.

NAPA Auto Parts Irish Tarmac Rally Championship Calendar

Feb 01-02:Galway International Rally
Mar 14-16: West Cork International Rally
Apr 18-19: Circuit of Ireland Rally
May 03-04: Killarney Rally of the Lakes
Jun 20-22: Donegal International Rally
Aug 15-16: Ulster Rally
Oct 04-05: Cork ’20’ International Rally