Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver Josh McErlean is preparing to get back on familiar ground as the FIA World Rally Championship heads closer to home for the Central European Rally [16-19 October].
After an intense run of gravel rallies across Europe and South America, the event heralds the championship’s long-awaited return to asphalt, the first sealed-surface round since Rally Islas Canarias in April. Since then, the series has tackled a relentless succession of gravel challenges, including Portugal, Sardinia, Greece, Paraguay and Chile, providing McErlean and co-driver Eoin Treacy with a demanding yet invaluable learning curve during their debut season at Rally1 level.
For McErlean, the past few months have been a voyage of discovery, adapting to the top tier of world rallying and gradually closing the gap to the front-runners in M-Sport Ford’s Puma Rally. Despite setbacks in Chile and Paraguay, the Irishman’s progress in understanding the car, managing his pace, and refining his approach has been evident.
Now, with the WRC returning to a surface he knows and enjoys, McErlean is keen to deliver a strong, consistent performance.
“It’s great to be heading back to asphalt again,” said McErlean. “We’ve had a long stretch on gravel, and while the learning has been huge, it’ll be nice to get back to something a bit more familiar. Central Europe is a really special event, fast, technical and often unpredictable so the key will be staying tidy and avoiding mistakes. We’ve done this rally twice before, so I have a good idea of what to expect in terms of the roads and conditions. The weather can play a massive part, with the grip levels changing corner to corner, so it’s all about being adaptable and reading the surface. After the challenges of the last few events, a clean, trouble-free weekend is the aim as we build the sealed surface miles in the car. It’s easy to forget we have only had two asphalt events throughout the whole season so far.”
The Central European Rally is one of the most distinctive events on the WRC calendar, crossing three countries, Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic, with a mix of smooth, flowing tarmac, narrow lanes, and muddy cut sections that can catch out even the most experienced drivers. Having tackled both previous editions, McErlean will draw on that experience as he aims to demonstrate his pace and continue his development in the sport’s highest tier.
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.
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