Keith Cronin returned from a near 12 month sabbatical to take a superb 2nd overall on the recent Cork 20 International.

The former British champion has recently purchased a Citroen DS3 R5 for a proposed assault on the 2015 WRC 2 championship, having came so close to winning the Citroen Trophy in 2013,which carried a prize drive of 6 WRC events in a factory backed Citroen DS3 R5.

The Cork 20 was the final round of the Black Pudding Irish Tarmac series and attracted a top quality entry.

Cronin got off to a fantastic start with fastest time on the opening Musherbeg test, stopping the clocks eight seconds quicker from last years winner Daragh O'Riordan's Fiesta WRC in the damp conditions. The tables were turned on the next test, when the Fiesta driver took nine back, as Cronin found the R5 car very skittery over the bumps.

By stage 5 O'Riordan lead extended to 49 seconds as the Citroen driver was playing himself in with the new car.

By the end of day one the lead was down to 36 seconds.

"It has gone really well today. Struggling a bit with set up, but the stages tomorrow are so fast, we'll struggle to match the World Rally Cars, it's just too low geared," said Cronin.

An overshoot on stage 11 cost further time, but on the penultimate test Cronin hit a large rock,puncturing a front tyre and dropping three minutes,but he still managed to hold onto second place over the final test.

"It has been a good weekend for us, we've learnt a lot about the car," said the Irishman.

Future plans remain fluent for the remainder of 2014, before the proposed programme of WRC events in 2015.

Photo courtesy of Roy Dempster.