Rahill and Smith finish a fantastic fourth on Junior ERC debut

Craig Rahill and Conor Smith wasted no time showing their potential in the Junior European Rally Championship as they sealed a fourth-place finish in Rally Sierra Morena’s Junior ERC section.

The reigning Billy Coleman Award winner adjusted to the Spanish conditions straightaway, finishing a slender 1.1 seconds off stage two’s fastest time - the first proper stage of the two-day rally.

Two more top-five stage finishes on Saturday afternoon’s stages put Rahill fifth overnight, 22.5 seconds from the podium positions after losing extra seconds due to the notional time he was given on Saturday’s final test.

A string of top-five times on Sunday, including the third-fastest time on stage nine, propelled the Cavan crew into fourth, a position they were able to maintain until Rally Sierra Morena’s finish ramp.

“We are delighted to finish fourth in the opening round of Junior ERC,” said debutant Rahill. “This being our first ERC round, our goal was fairly simple: we just wanted to gain experience and build our pace

“We were quite surprised to find ourselves fourth fastest after the opening stage. We maintained that steady pace throughout the weekend, and it’s a good confidence boost to know that our pace is not far from the mark of Junior ERC’s regular frontrunners

“There has been a lot learned this weekend, and it has been a great experience. A huge thanks to the whole team behind us for all the hard work they put in this weekend!

“The next round is in Hungary on gravel, so we will have a lot to learn again, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.”

Keelan Grogan and Ayrton Sherlock also showed promising pace on their first visit to Spain. Grogan finished 13th on his Junior ERC debut, but could have been seventh had he not been hit by three and a half minutes of road penalties.

After crucial technical repairs left Grogan late out of Saturday morning’s service period, the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver put the issues aside to set a stunning third-fastest time on his first-ever proper closed-road stage outside Ireland and the UK.

Further top-six stage times will leave the 24-year-old encouraged with his Junior ERC potential against the 20-strong field of Rally4 cars.

“I am delighted to get to the finish of our first ERC round,” said the Peugeot 208 Rally pilot. “It was a really tough event but we are happy to show a good pace over the two days.

“Unfortunately, we dropped a lot of time on Friday night which also resulted in a few late check-out penalties from Saturday morning’s service as we rectified some issues.

“A big thanks to TRT Racing for their brilliant work over the weekend, they made things very easy for us. And also a massive thanks to the MI Rally Academy for their support in making this happen.”

Jon Armstrong and Shane Byrne started their ERC weekend in style with a searing second-fastest time on Rally Sierra Morena’s Qualifying Stage, only two-tenths slower than eventual rally winner Nikolay Gryazin.

A stall on Friday night’s tight super-special cost the Ford Fiesta Rally2 duo 15 seconds but they bounced back straightaway on Saturday morning, scoring a stage win on the opening Obejo test.

Two more top-five stage times, including one with a slow puncture for ten kilometres put Armstrong 12th overnight. Unfortunately, a slide slightly off-line on a tight right-hander meant his Fiesta clipped its rear wheel off a rocky bank.

Resultant suspension damage forced the Irish duo into retirement on Sunday’s opening test, having shown positive speed the day before.

MI Rally Academy co-driver Killian McArdle completed his first ERC3 event with Casey-Jay Coleman. The Ford Fiesta Rally3 crew set seven top-five stage times in ERC3 on their way to an eighth-place finish after losing over four minutes with a puncture on stage seven.