Casey Jay Coleman won’t be under any pressure to perform when he makes his move to the FIA European Rally Championship’s top division on next week’s Rally 6 Cities North of Portugal.
Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy-backed Coleman is foregoing the chance to cement the runner-up spot in the FIA ERC3 standings to make his FIA ERC1 debut in a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 run by RLA Autosport, the team behind his successful ERC3 and ERC Fiesta Rally3 Trophy campaign.
With co-driver Kilian McArdle, Coleman contested two Tarmac events in his native Ireland to get familiar with Škoda Rally2 power, experience that he hopes will help him on the ERC season finale from 23 - 25 October.
“I’ve never done any kind of a rally in Portugal so it’s going to be a big learning curve,” said Coleman. “At least we’re used to everything in the car, how everything works, the feeling of sitting in the car more than anything. It’s going to be difficult to switch to gravel and Tarmac is probably my preferred surface anyway. Hopefully we can have a good test and get a decent feeling in the car before the start of the rally.”
“Hopefully we can have a good test and get a decent feeling in the car before the start of the rally. But there’s no pressure. As long as I can get around and not embarrass myself, I’ll be happy. I suppose the fact it’s the last round of the season is a nice way to start your Rally2 journey in the European championship because if you start next year when everything is new, it’s a new season and new competitors and you have to get used to a Qualifying Stage, whereas the last round of the season you can fly in under the cover a little bit and get your experience that way.”
Having impressed during successive ERC3 campaigns, Coleman is hoping his move to ERC1 becomes permanent.
“I think I’m kind of done with the Rally3 car,” said Coleman. “Okay, we didn’t achieve the goal we exactly wanted this year but we did come close and, to be fair to Ville [Vatanen], he had a really good season and we got some bad luck in places. I’m kind of looking to go Rally2 now so that’s where we’re at.”
While car and event are new to Coleman, the familiarity of driving for RLA Autosport provides a welcome boost for the 23-year-old rising star.
“It’s not a family team but it’s like a family team which gives us great confidence.”
Credit: Original article by ERC Media
https://www.fiaerc.com/en/news/pressure-free-coleman-all-set-to-step-up-in-erc