McErlean second in WRC2 Challenger and Johnston third overall after day one of Rally de Portugal
It has been an incredibly productive day for Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver Josh McErlean on the opening day of Rally de Portugal.
McErlean and co-driver James Fulton, on their World Rally Championship debut for Tokspport and on their maiden outing behind the wheel of a Skoda Fabia Rally2, are in second place in the WRC2 Challenger category.
Rally de Portugal began on Thursday morning with Shakedown, followed by a 2.94km super-special at Figueira da Foz in the evening
Friday’s challenges are presented in eight stages across 126.90km over some of the most demanding roads of the season.
The day was made even more complicated as the crews did not return to the service until the end of the day meaning the drivers really had to think about car management and damage limitation over very rough roads.
McErlean is in a battle with Jon Solans whose Toyota Yaris Rally2 is only 3.8 seconds clear of his Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy rival.
The County Derry-based driver may well have been in the category overnight had he not suffered a time loss late in the day.
“It was a very solid day,” he said. “To get through a Friday in Portugal is an achievement in itself. We had a second-fastest time on stage three which was great but it became a game of survival after the puncture as we only had one spare for the rest of the day. But it is all positive and we are in the fight for the lead going into day two.”
His Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy colleague Willam Creighton was never outside the top ten stage times for most of the day.
Unfortunately, a minor technical issue forced the retirement of their Ford Fiesta Rally2.
His car will be repaired in time and Creighton and his co-driver Liam Regan will be back in action for Saturday’s leg.
In the main rally, Motorsport Ireland licence holder Aaron Johnston, who is co-driving for Japanese driver Takamoto Katsuta has been in a day-long battle for the overall lead.
The Toyota Gazzo Racing crew led for much of Friday but were overtaken by team-mates Kalle Rovanpera and Sebastien Ogier – just 3.7 seconds separate the three Toyota drivers ahead of Saturday’s even more demanding route.
We were very quick on the first one this morning, maybe the rest of the morning we were a little messy and untidy because the stages were still loose after last week’s rain but we are in the fight for the lead and we will keep at it,” said the County Tyrone man.
Saturday is the longest day of the weekend in terms of distance, with nine stages covering 145.02km.
Just as newspapers and magazines are paid for, digital editorial content will also have to be paid for.
Please subscribe and help us keep this machine running!
It’s only €50 per year – subscribe now
Subscribe to get access
Read more of this content when you subscribe today.
Kerry Motorsport News 