IRISHMAN Josh McErlean says completing the iconic Rallye Monte-Carlo on his Rally1 debut is a nice way to begin life in the FIA World Rally Championship with new squad M-Sport Ford.
McErlean adopted a safety-first approach with team-mate Eoin Treacy for the entirety of the Gap-based meeting, which threw up every conceivable road condition for those taking part.
It was a real baptism of fire for the 25-year-old from Kilrea as the car he is campaigning this season – the Puma Rally1 – and the control tyres supplied by Hankook are unfamiliar to him.
However, he gave a positive account of himself as other, more experienced rivals fell by the wayside and failed to make it to the end, including Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Takamoto Katsuta and fellow M-Sport Ford points scorer, Gregoire Munster. Both understeered off the road on Sunday’s first and second special stages respectively and they were unable to go any further.
Their retirement and an accident involving Toyota’s latest Rally1 recruit – the reigning WRC2 Champion Sami Pajari – meant McErlean achieved a career-best result of seventh position.
“It is a big relief to get to the finish after the conditions we faced all weekend,” said McErlean, who had few problems of his own to report across the four legs, except for a misted up front window towards the end of Saturday and trying to get his head around the anti-lag system.
“It is only the beginning of what is going to be a big year ahead, and hopefully it will get easier for us, but we have got better as the weekend went on and we have improved step-by-step.
“For sure, to get this opportunity, it’s come a bit earlier than I expected, and jumping in at the deep end is always going to be a challenge – especially at somewhere like Monte Carlo where we have had snow, ice, mud, dry and damp Tarmac, everything – but to complete all of the stages with a new car, co-driver, team and new tyres and to finish back up in Monaco is nice.”
McErlean – with backing from the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy – now turns his focus to Rally Sweden in three weeks’ time, with testing and preparations starting in the next few days.
Sebastien Ogier stole the show at Rallye Monte-Carlo as he won it for a record tenth time – a number that could prove difficult to equal – or surpass – for many years. The eight-time World Champion was victorious by eighteen-and-a-half seconds from fellow Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 driver, Elfyn Evans, with ex-Ulster Rally winner Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) third.
“I don’t know where to start,” said Ogier. “I have had my lucky star with me this weekend – my uncle, who we lost one year ago. I’m sure he was bringing me everything – this one is for him.”
Having experienced an off-road moment on the Thursday leg, Ogier mounted an impressive comeback to take control of the 93rd instalment of the Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo late on Friday. From there, the experienced Frenchman and Vincent Landais proved unstoppable.