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British and Irish contenders join ERC ranks

As well as being the second round of the FIA European Rally Championship, the Circuit of Ireland will also be part of the British Rally Championship and Irish Tarmac Rally Championship and a number of leading contenders from both series have registered for the ERC.

Registered drivers benefit from priority seeding on the entry list and access to the Qualifying Stage that sets the leading places in the running order for leg one. They will also be eligible for a share of the €20,000 prize money up for grabs to the top seven ERC-registered finishers using tyres from official partners MICHELIN or Pirelli.

Leading the domestic contenders to have registered ahead of the 7-9 April event is Keith Cronin, a three-time British champion currently leading the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship standings. Cronin, defending Circuit of Ireland winner Craig Breen and Northern Ireland's Jonny Greer (who's pictured on last year's event) will drive Citroën DS3 R5s run by local experts DGM Sport from Belfast, the rally's host city.

Northern Irish favourite Alastair Fisher is a rival of Cronin's in the Irish Tarmac series, and the Ford Fiesta R5 driver ran fourth early in last year's event before crashing out. Also in Fiestas will be two drivers who finished on the podium in the BRC opener earlier this month: Sweden's Fredrik Ahlin and Welshman Tom Cave.

Five-time Scottish champion and 2011 BRC winner David Bogie drives a ŠKODA Fabia R5, as does Neil Simpson who finished fifth on the Circuit as part of a three-event ERC programme in 2014.

Martin McCormack, 12th on the Circuit and eighth in Ypres in 2015, returns in a ŠKODA Fabia S2000, a model that Joseph McGonigle will also use on the rally for the second year in a row. Robert Woodside meanwhile has switched to a Ford Fiesta R5 after entering the rally last year in a Porsche RGT.

Zdroj: fiaerc.com