WRC
McErlean targets South America gains after Finland confidence boost
Josh McErlean believes his clean run through Secto Rally Finland can provide the springboard for another strong result when the FIA World Rally Championship heads to South America later this month.
The Irishman brought his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 home seventh in Jyväskylä, emerging unscathed from a weekend which produced a string of sizeable accidents elsewhere in the Rally1 field.
His result could have been even stronger had he not been caught in Friday afternoon’s torrential rain, which cost him more than 90 seconds, but McErlean was encouraged by the pace he showed thereafter.
Now his attention turns to WRC ueno Rally del Paraguay, where previous experience of the distinctive gravel roads gives him reason to believe another solid result is achievable.
“I think it’s an opportunity for another good result,” McErlean said.
“It’s actually still fast in places, but there are a lot of junctions and big braking zones. It’s a nice rally and I’m actually looking forward to going back to it.
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“It’s nice to go somewhere again where you have a lot of pace. I think it’s relatively similar to last year, but the surface is quite strange with the clay base. You can actually see the tyre marks on the gravel surface, which is very unique on those roads.”
McErlean showed promising pace in Paraguay last season before his challenge was hampered by a damaged sump guard on Saturday morning, and believes that prior knowledge can be put to better use this time around.
“Last year we were actually running quite high on the Friday until we had a problem with a compression on Saturday morning,” he explained.
“There’s a cleaning effect to some degree, so I think it’s good to go to South America with a positive mindset.”
That optimism has been strengthened by what McErlean sees as clear progress during the course of his Rally1 campaign.
While results have not always reflected his speed, recent outings in Greece and Finland have provided more tangible evidence of the steps being made.
“If you keep comparing us to our team-mates from the start of the year to now, we’ve definitely upped it a lot,” he said.
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“Results like Greece and obviously this one definitely help a lot, but on some events we’ve not had full clean rallies, so it’s difficult to keep the momentum going.
“But I think with another event like this, you can push forward again into South America. It’s been good and productive.”
Finland itself provided one of McErlean’s toughest tests of the season.
He described the weekend as “crazy” following the number of accidents, many of which came on roads that were new to the itinerary, but took satisfaction from negotiating the rally without a major incident.
“Getting caught in that storm and losing over a minute and a half was not so good, but we kept in the race and afterwards the pace was good relative to where we are with our team-mates,” he reflected.
“It was nice to get a clean result. There were moments along the way – I think you have to expect that in Finland – but no massive, massive moments.
“It gives you confidence that you still got through it cleanly.”
With Paraguay followed immediately by Rally Chile Bio Bío, McErlean now has consecutive opportunities on South American gravel to turn that growing confidence into results.
