McErlean maximises experience after early Sardinia setback
Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy got a taste of road sweeping on some of the World Rally Championship’s most demanding stages on Italy’s Rally Sardinia.
The M-Sport Ford pairing started the rally in super form with a sixth-fastest shakedown time, followed by a repeat result on Rally Sardinia’s opening Arzachena test.
Unfortunately, McErlean’s rally was to turn on its head when an impact with a rock damaged his Ford Puma Rally1’s rear suspension. The damage ruled him out of the rest of Friday’s running along with his team-mates Gregoire Munster and Martins Sesks, who also hit trouble on Sardinia’s second stage.
M-Sport’s outstanding mechanics worked their magic to get McErlean and Munster’s pair of Pumas back out onto Saturday’s stages where they would gain vital kilometres on Sardinia’s unrelenting gravel.
McErlean and Treacy were forced to open Saturday and Sunday’s dusty gravel stages, a new challenge for the Rally1 rookies. The Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy crew persisted, battling hard against their M-Sport team-mates as they built momentum and, more importantly, developed experience and car set-up for Greece’s Acropolis Rally later in the month.
“A lot of good learning this weekend,” McErlean reflected, “and hopefully someday we can use this experience driving first on the road on the first day of a rally.
“But honestly, a big thanks to the whole team. Even in the last service, they had a big job to fit a front-left damper in seven minutes.
“So a big kudos to them, and hopefully we’ve gained some good learning for Greece. It definitely shows us you need to have a good Friday in WRC.”
Tyrone’s Aaron Johnston secured his third top-five WRC finish in a row on Rally Sardinia after another weekend showing promising pace alongside Takamoto Katsuta.
The Toyota Yaris Rally1 crew struggled to find grip on Friday morning’s opening stages but managed to set the second-fastest time on Sardinia’s third test. A roll on Friday’s penultimate test would cost them over two minutes on stages five and six, putting them seventh overall.
A puncture on Saturday afternoon halted their fightback, but the Japanese-Irish combination gritted their teeth to climb up from tenth to fifth, completing the relentless rally on a positive note with two Power Stage bonus points.
James Fulton and his Toyota Yaris Rally2 driver, Yuki Yamamoto, matched their best WRC result together as they finished 17th overall on Rally Sardinia.
The duo was left encouraged with their speed improvement through the 16-stage event, ending the weekend with an 8th- and 12th-fastest Rally2 time on Sardinia’s final two tests as they moved up from 14th to 11th in Rally2. Fulton and Yamamoto will hope to bring that progress to WRC’s next round in Greece.
Lorcan Moore made his WRC debut on Rally Sardinia, co-driving for Qatari driver Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari. The 27-year-old guided Al-Kuwari to a 13th-place finish in WRC2 aboard a Citroen C3 Rally2.
