Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy ticked all the boxes on their M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 debut, finishing seventh on a challenging Rally Monte-Carlo.
The Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy duo scored six World Rally Championship points on the season’s opening round, quickly adapting to their new Rally1 Puma, and keeping it on the road in typically mixed alpine conditions.
It was a fantastic achievement for McErlean who was making his Rally1 debut and Treacy who had only competed on two WRC events beforehand in a Rally2 car.
“I have realised a dream this weekend and it will take a little while to sink in,” said McErlean.
“It was quite daunting standing in Casino Square at the start, knowing what was ahead of us. But we had a plan to follow and it was vital to stick to that throughout. Taking seventh overall is probably better than we had hoped for and it was mission accomplished for us this week.”
“Rally Monte-Carlo is an event every rally driver dreams of tackling, and to compete here in Rally1 machinery for the first time is something truly special.”
“It has been an incredible learning experience, and I’m thrilled to have secured my first championship points in Rally1 with the best drivers in the world around me.”
Watch:
McErlean built up his pace over the four-day event, surviving wet, mucky, and icy road conditions. He consistently improved his stage times to move into the top ten on Saturday afternoon.
Sunday’s pre-sunrise start had WRC crews tackle an icy Stage 16 in darkness. McErlean and Treacy once again overcame the unique Rally Monte-Carlo test to move into seventh overall as their top-tier rivals slipped into the scenery.
Their debut championship points haul brought praise from M-Sport Ford Team Principal, Richard Millener, after ending the event as the team’s top finisher.
“Josh and Eoin have had a fantastic weekend,” said Millener, “we asked them to get the car to the end of the event and use it as a learning experience for the start of what is going to be a huge year for them. They did exactly that.”
“This year’s Rally Monte-Carlo was a really difficult one. Well, they approached the event very sensibly. I am very impressed with how they have ended the rally taking championship points where some of their much more experienced rivals left empty-handed.”
MI Rally Academy Patron John Coyne was also impressed by the crew’s Monte-Carlo result.
“I am proud of how Josh and Eoin managed their debut in the top tier of WRC,” said Coyne. “They achieved or exceeded all our pre-event targets and demonstrated the effectiveness of the Academy development process. I am looking forward to supporting their continued development throughout the season.”
Watch:
Next up for Ireland’s leading WRC stars will be the snowy stages of Rally Sweden which takes place on 13-16 February.
It was a mixed weekend for Motorsport Ireland’s other four Rally Monte-Carlo starters. Eamonn Boland and MJ Morrissey finished third in the WRC Masters Cup and 16th in WRC2. Boland vowed not to take any chances on what he believed to be the trickiest Rally Monte-Carlo he has faced yet. He was happy to mark his 20th Monte-Carlo start with a finish aboard the Ford Fiesta Rally2.
Aaron Johnston started the final day of action in sixth position alongside Takamoto Katsuta. Unfortunately, the Toyota Yaris Rally1 crew slid into a ditch on an icy right-hander. Despite only suffering minor damage, the Yaris was stranded on Sunday’s opening test. Katsuta and Johnston were forced to retire but could take positives from several top-three stage times that included a fastest time on Saturday morning.
Yuki Yamamoto and James Fulton were eighth in WRC2 until an off-road moment on stage seven cost them five minutes. They continued to set top-ten WRC2 times before stopping on Stage 12. The Japanese-Irish crew returned on Sunday to record promising stage results including a sixth-fastest time on Rally Monte-Carlo’s Col de Turini Power Stage.
Comments