Eamonn Kelly and Conor Mohan got their Junior WRC campaign off to a strong start with a third-place finish on Rally Sweden. Fellow Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy members Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy showed great pace in the winter conditions before a brush with a snowbank spoiled their hopes of a points-scoring finish.
Kelly started Rally Sweden with the third-fastest Junior WRC time on its opening Umea Sprint test. The Donegal driver struggled to find his snow-rally groove on Friday morning but bounced back on the repeat loop of stages to move up from sixth to third.
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The MI Rally Academy crew found themselves locked in a battle with Turkey’s Ali Turkkan for a spot on the Junior WRC podium. Seven-tenths of a second covered the two Ford Fiesta Rally3 crews after a small spin for Kelly on Saturday’s opening stage. The duel for third intensified throughout Rally Sweden’s penultimate day of action with Kelly holding a slender 1.2-second advantage ahead of Sunday’s deciding three stages.
A second-fastest time on Sunday morning’s 29-kilometre Vastervik stage proved crucial in Kelly and Mohan’s fight for a Swedish podium. Their impressive effort extended the gap over fourth to 16.1 seconds, a margin they calmly managed until the end of the four-day event.
Kelly and Mohan’s podium is a repeat of their Rally Sweden result from 12 months ago - a solid platform to build a Junior WRC challenge. Rally Portugal is Junior WRC’s next event, taking place in May.
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Making only their second Rally1 start, Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy exhibited an impressive turn of pace on Rally Sweden’s high-speed snow stages. A strong start to Friday’s stages put the Irish duo at the front of M-Sport’s pack of four Ford Pumas.
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An overshoot on a stage five hairpin dropped McErlean to eighth overall but he bounced back on the next 20-kilometre Andersvattnet test to set a top-five time. His stage six effort was faster than both reigning world champion Thierry Neuville and two-time champion Kalle Rovanpera.
The 25-year-old started Rally Sweden’s final day in eighth, sandwiched between WRC2 Champion Sami Pajari and M-Sport team-mate Gregoire Munster.
Unfortunately, a tap against a snowbank on Sunday’s opening stage pulled McErlean and Treacy’s Puma Rally1 into one of the rally’s notorious snow drifts. Against all odds, the M-Sport crew, with help from spectators, managed to dig the Puma out of the snow, enabling them to complete the rally’s two remaining stages.
It was a weekend to remember for Aaron Johnston who claimed a runner-up finish in Sweden alongside Takamoto Katsuta. A multitude of top-three stage times kept the Toyota Yaris Rally1 crew in the hunt for their maiden World Rally Championship victory. A fastest time on Sunday’s opener put them into the rally lead but succumbed to a late Elfyn Evans charge and settled for second behind their Toyota team-mates.
The result equals their best WRC finish to date, last year’s Safari Rally Kenya. Interestingly, that is the next event on the WRC calendar.
Cavan co-driver James Fulton guided another Japanese driver in Yuki Yamamoto to seventh-place finish in WRC2 Challenger. The Toyota Yaris Rally2 crew finished 17th overall.
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