McErlean continues Rally1 baptism at a gruelling WRC Acropolis Rally

Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver Josh McErlean once again proved his determination and fighting spirit in the face of adversity, overcoming a series of setbacks to finish 12th overall on the EKO Acropolis Rally of Greece [26-29 June] and top M-Sport Ford finisher on one of the most punishing events of the FIA World Rally Championship calendar.

Marking his debut Rally1 appearance on the legendary gravel event, McErlean began the weekend in confident style, setting the fastest time on the opening pass of shakedown – an encouraging sign of pace heading into the notoriously rough stages north of Athens.

But while the super special stage in front of the iconic Acropolis monument brought a spectacular start to proceedings on Thursday evening, McErlean knew the real test was still to come. And true to form, Greece didn’t hold back.

Just at the start of Friday’s opening full stage, disaster struck when the M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 suffered a puncture after hitting a rock, immediately dropping McErlean and co-driver  down the leaderboard. As if that wasn’t enough, a second puncture on stage four continued to pile on the punishment, with the gruelling conditions wreaking havoc as expected on the rough tests.

Despite the early setbacks, the pair continued to push forward and gather critical experience, but the most significant drama came late on Friday afternoon, when McErlean ran wide on stage eight, damaging the rear suspension of the car. With no option but to carry out repairs at the roadside, the task was made all the more difficult by bent bolts, making it a time-consuming ordeal.

Thanks to remarkable persistence and teamwork, McErlean and Treacy managed to get the car back up and running, albeit now with a broken driveshaft and only front-wheel drive to rely on. The loss of time from the incident, along with road penalties, saw them tumble to 20th overall by the end of the day.

From that point forward, the rally became a test of grit and patience. With any hopes of a competitive result gone, McErlean refocused his efforts on maximising seat time, staying out of trouble and learning more about the Puma Rally1 in the unique conditions of the Acropolis.

A lack of handbrake throughout Saturday hampered progress through the tighter sections, but McErlean steadily improved his pace as the rally went on. His resilience was rewarded with clean, consistent running on Sunday’s long and physically demanding final leg, allowing the Irishman to climb back to a well-earned 12th overall, and ahead of more experienced crews.

“Acropolis was everything we expected and so much more. It took sheer grit and determination from Eoin and the team. Honestly, it was a massive job for everyone,” said McErlean at the finish in Lamia. “Every service, there was work to be done to keep us in the rally, and I can’t thank the M-Sport team enough. We had to dig deep. Of course, I made some mistakes, and I’ll own those, but when we had a clean run, the pace was actually very encouraging. That’s the biggest takeaway for us, we’re progressing, and we’re learning where we can push and how to manage these long, punishing rallies. It’s been another huge learning weekend for us. I really hope things get a bit easier from here, to be honest. I’ve got great memories of Estonia and Finland, and I’m looking forward to heading back to those fast, flowing roads. Thanks to everyone who’s supported us through this one, it meant a lot.”

Next up for McErlean is Rally Estonia, where he’ll aim to translate hard-earned lessons from Greece into speed and confidence on the smooth, high-speed roads of the Baltics.

McErlean is backed by Woodland NI, Admore Air Conditioning, SDC Trailers, Hutchinson Engineering, McCormack Contracting Inc, Fastener Connections, Shamrock Building Systems and EC Framing Inc.