McErlean and Kelly set for Rally Portugal's iconic gravel stages

The World Rally Championship’s traditional summer of European gravel events starts this weekend with Rally Portugal. With the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy’s Rally1 crew of Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy in action along with Junior WRC contenders Eamonn Kelly and Conor Mohan, there is good reason to follow intently.

McErlean takes on Rally Portugal for the fifth time this week, his first in WRC’s premier category. The M-Sport Ford driver finished an impressive ninth overall and second in WRC2 12 months ago.

The Irish duo sampled gravel aboard their Ford Puma Rally1 for the first time on March’s Safari Rally Kenya, scoring a second-fastest stage time in the process. Few stages in the world need as much caution as Kenya’s but Portugal’s rocky and rutted roads still demand more than a simple all-out-attack approach.

"It feels great to be heading back to Rally Portugal,” said McErlean. “This event holds some really good memories for us.

“I can’t wait to get going again, this time in a Rally1 car. It’s the start of the gravel season and there's no better place to kick it off.

“The fans, the atmosphere, the roads—everything about Portugal is just mega.”

Eamonn Kelly and Conor Mohan are seeded third in Rally Portugal’s 12-strong Junior WRC entry. A strong drive on Rally Sweden secured a crucial podium finish to kickstart Kelly’s five-round campaign.

The Donegal driver has completed two gravel events in preparation for Rally Portugal, sealing fourth overall on the Moonraker Forestry Rally before securing a stellar class win on Portugal’s Rali Terras d’Aboboreira.

Kelly scored eight stage wins from nine on the Amarante-based national event against several of his Junior WRC rivals. The 26-year-old will hope to bring that formidable form into his latest Rally3 showdown.

“Rali Terras d’Aboboreira was great preparation for Rally Portugal,” said Kelly. “It was nice to get a good feeling of how the Ford Fiesta Rally3 is working on roads in the same region as Saturday and Sunday’s stages.

“The competition this weekend will be really tough, though, there are a lot of crews that will be really quick on these types of stages but we feel as prepared as we can be.”

Conor Mohan, Eamonn Kelly, Josh McErlean, Eoin Treacy with John Coyne

Motorsport Ireland’s Aaron Johnston forms part of a five-car Toyota Yaris Rally1 entry with Japanese driver Takamoto Katsuta. Johnston finished fourth on the WRC’s last round on the Canary Islands and returns to gravel after recording four stage wins on Safari Rally Kenya.

James Fulton takes on his first gravel event of the year alongside Yuki Yamamoto. The Toyota Yaris Rally2 duo showed good speed on the Canary Islands Rally before an unfortunate retirement on its penultimate test.

Kris Meeke and Stuart Loudon return to the WRC fold in their Yaris Rally2 as Rally Portugal forms part of their Portuguese Rally Championship campaign. Meeke has been in magnificent form so far this year to fend off fellow WRC rival Dani Sordo and seal a hat-trick of victories from the series’ opening three events.

The 24-stage Rally Portugal starts with shakedown on Thursday morning before the Figueira da Foz super-special later that evening. A further 340 stage kilometres lie ahead between Friday morning and Sunday afternoon’s Fafe Power Stage.