Jonathan Greer insists there is no added pressure on him to perform at this weekend’s Galway International Rally where he will hand Citroen Racing’s C3 Rally2 car its debut on Irish soil.
The Carryduff driver has been a regular customer of the Versailles-based squad in recent years and that loyalty has been repaid with the delivery of the supermini in time for the start of the Irish Tarmac Championship.
“Not really,” said Greer when asked if the limelight he is sure to find himself under in Galway will be off-putting.
“I haven’t given it a lot of thought to be honest – it’s just nice to go in something different – and maybe in time we will start to see more of them competing on the stages. That would be good.”
Save for some new engine software, reworked aerodynamics and an upgraded front differential, the C3 Rally2 car is similar to the C3 R5 that carried Greer to the Northern Ireland Rally Championship title last October.
With a season’s running at the wheel of the C3 R5 under his belt, he is hoping much of that know-how can be carried across to 2022. “The up-dates that have been introduced can’t be a bad thing,” he said.
“But we won’t really know too much about the improvements and the difference they make until we get miles in the car. There isn’t going to be much of an advantage in terms of performance, but the changes might help us in other areas, for instance when it comes to getting the set-up to our liking.”
Greer has never won a round of the Irish Tarmac Championship and if that is to change in Galway, he will have to finish in front of proven opposition such as Alastair Fisher, Callum Devine and Josh Moffett over 15 closed-road stages spread across Saturday and Sunday.
Triple British Rally champion Matt Edwards won’t be there, however, after failing to get a budget in place for the seven-round series having explored all manner of options since the turn of the new year.
“It’s a very competitive field in Galway so finishing anywhere inside the top 10 would be a good result,” said Greer. “Galway is always unpredictable due to the weather, which is part of the event’s appeal.
“The plan at the minute is to contest the Irish Tarmac Championship in its entirety but we will wait and see what Galway and some of the other early rounds bring and go from there,” he added.
