McErlean heads Stateside for Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing Junior Driver debut
Josh McErlean will head stateside for his opening event of 2021 driving Enda McCormack's Hyundai i20
Current Motorsport Ireland Billy Coleman Award winner Josh McErlean will kick-off his year as a Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing Junior Driver in the United States, as he tackles the Dirtfish Olympus Rally on 24/25 April.
Joined by regular co-driver Keaton Williams, the young pairing will make their debut across the Atlantic, tackling the event in a Hyundai i20 R5 as part of a two-car Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy entry. Fellow Academy member Callum Devine will join them at the event.
Thanks to the efforts of the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy, an opportunity became available to contest the forest event, which is based near Seattle, Washington and will mark McErlean’s first event in America and his first under the Hyundai Junior Driver banner.
The 21-year-old from Kilrea, Co.Derry will use the opportunity to gain precious seat time and preparation ahead of his 2021 season.
“I thought I had used up my quota of amazing opportunities over the last 12 months or so but this is truly a unique chance to experience rallying on the other side of the world and gain some valuable experience outside of my comfort zone,” said McErlean.
“I`m still letting my Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing Junior Driver place sink in and have been busy firming up plans for our season. There is a great team behind the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy who can really introduce opportunities and this is one of those occasions that I`m relishing. I`m very excited to see what the sport is like over there.”
The Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing Junior Driver announcement in March gave McErlean, his team and the Motorsport Ireland stakeholders a boost to morale during the enforced downtime during the first quarter of 2021.
“Contesting the Olympus Rally means I get mileage in the Hyundai i20 R5 on gravel and coupled with it, a wealth of experience on a new surface and type of event. It’s great to be able to get seat time at the moment which means we should be able to hit the ground running when we get our European Championship campaign underway” he continues.
The Olympus Rally is a qualifying round of the American Rally Association National Championship and offers 12 stages with a whopping 140 competitive miles on gravel, around three-times the distance of a British Championship round. A wide variety of surfaces from tightly packed roads to loose gravel will be in store and McErlean believes tackling new events such as this is a valuable tool in his career and season ahead.
“I’ve always wanted to push the boundaries in my career and contest new events. Adapting to those challenges make you a much better athlete and the Olympus will certainly be nothing like I`ve ever experienced before. It’s mega exciting and I can’t wait to get over there and see what we can do and I'm hugely thankful to Enda McCormack for the use of his car. I’d like to think we can return that faith with a positive result for the MI Rally Academy."