McErlean takes positives from challenging Rally Chile as Boyle seals first win in Wexford

Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy endured a challenging Rally Chile, showing resilience to gain as much experience as possible on the World Rally Championship’s final South American event of the year.

The Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy crew battled up to tenth place after suffering a high-speed spin on Chile’s opening Pulperia stage. They held onto their top ten position overnight despite finishing the day with a puncture aboard their Ford Puma Rally1.

Unfortunately, the Ford M-Sport World Rally team duo were limited to five kilometres of competitive action on Saturday when a mechanical issue hit the Puma on the first stage of day two.

McErlean had been set to tackle Saturday's treacherously muddy and challenging stages before their early morning setback. Instead the Irish duo returned on Sunday to gain valuable experience on the final four stages as they continue to build their experience of Rally1 machinery and WRC’s full calendar of events.

“It has been a challenging weekend," reflected McErlean. "Obviously, it was a shame to miss out on both Saturdays in Paraguay and now Chile.

"But we still got to do the recce and write the pacenotes, and we got through Friday and Sunday's stages but we still need to work on the pace and performance.

"In Chile, it has been hard to compete with the boys at the top, and we’ve got a lot to take home from the weekend."

Motorsport Ireland co-driver Aaron Johnston faced his own struggles alongside Takamoto Katsuta, as they battled for confidence on Friday's slippery gravel stages.

A spin on stage eight cost the Toyota Yaris Rally1 crew two places, but they continued to fight back with several top-five times, including a second-fastest time on Sunday's Bio Bio stage, to secure seventh place overall.

Back home in Ireland, the Wexford Stages Rally delivered a fairytale result for Michael Boyle and MI Rally Academy co-driver Declan Boyle, securing their maiden rally victory.

The pair started on the pace with a series of second-fastest stage times before ending Saturday with a brace of stage wins to reach the halfway point just 1.5 seconds behind recently crowned National Rally Champion Eddie Doherty.

The Donegal duo stormed into the lead with a stage win double on Sunday's opening two tests before three more fastest times sealed a memorable victory for the childhood friends.

"Overall, we had a great weekend," said Declan Boyle. "The weather was challenging, but we had a good start, which helped settle us in. Saturday's middle loop didn't really go our way with silly stuff happening, like the bumper coming off and getting caught in the rain.

“After losing a bit of time, we just went for it over Saturday's final loop of stages. That left us 1.5 seconds off the lead overnight.

"It clicked for us on Sunday morning, setting fastest stage times, which was a first for me. In fact, I had never finished inside the top ten before, so I am absolutely delighted.

“To top it off, Michael and I are childhood friends. I never thought I would get to do a rally with Michael, never mind win one with him. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend, and I would like to thank everyone at the academy for all their help and support."

Craig Rahill and Conor Smith used the event as preparation for the final Junior ERC round in Croatia, showing impressive pace as the fastest Rally4 crew on the opening two stages despite losing intercom connection on stage one.

“A small off on stage three ended their hopes of a top result, but they returned on Saturday evening to dominate the remaining stages, winning all but two of the final 12 tests.

"Wexford threw everything at us, but we are quite happy overall with our weekend," said the Junior ERC challenger. "While leading the class on Saturday morning, we unfortunately got caught out on a mucky section, slid wide, and hit a bank.

“Thanks to our team in service, we returned under super-rally regulations for the last loop of Saturday and all nine stages on Sunday. We achieved what we wanted by getting mileage with the soft and wet compound Hankook tyres.

“We set fastest Rally4 times in 10 of the 13 stages we competed on this weekend, as well as setting some top two-wheel-drive times along the way in the very tricky conditions. That gives us great confidence with these tyre compounds going into future events."

Fellow academy crew Keelan Grogan and Darragh Mullen inherited the Rally4 class lead after Rahill's exit, with several stage wins building them a commanding 50-second advantage before an off-road excursion on a slippery section of stage 12 ended their promising weekend.

"We had an unfortunate end to an otherwise really good weekend," said Grogan. "Sunday morning's conditions were very tricky and we got caught out on a very slippery braking section, sliding off the road.

“Up to that point, though, things were going really well, and we were sitting in a comfortable 15th overall, while leading the Rally4 class.

“The mixed conditions over the weekend were ideal to experiment with some different types of Hankook tyre compounds to hopefully aid our approach to the final round of the Junior ERC in Croatia in a few weeks."

For Mullen, the weekend marked a significant milestone as he celebrated his 200th rally start.

"No better place to mark it than the Wexford Stages Rally," declared Mullen. "It was great to get the call from Keelan to step in for Ayrton [Sherlock], and a great chance to see a Junior ERC regular at work from the inside.

"From the very start, everything seemed to click. After stage one, we were only 0.6 seconds off Craig [Rahill], setting the tone for what promised to be a great battle before his misfortune.

"Saturday was a strong day, setting positive times, and Keelan was able to gain valuable knowledge. We ended the day with a healthy class lead and sat third in two-wheel-drive.

"The rain came on Sunday, so the plan was to have a steady run on the Hankook wets to build confidence and gain knowledge. Unfortunately, on Sunday's third stage, we got caught out under slippery braking, but it was still a hugely positive weekend overall.

"Thanks to Keelan for the opportunity to mark my 200th start, and to the MI Rally Academy for their continued guidance. It just wasn’t meant to be this time, but we’ll be back."

Joseph Kelly and MI Rally Academy co-driver Killian McArdle made their Toyota Yaris Rally2 debut on the Wexford Stages Rally, running 13th overall and setting top-ten stage times before dropping out on the slippery stage 12.