Kelly in Junior WRC podium contention in Finland
Photos by Conor O’Neill, Sean Hassett and Red Bull Content Pool
An epic drive on the five Friday afternoon stages of Rally Finland has propelled Eamonn Kelly and Conor Mohan into Junior World Rally Championship podium contention.
Based out of the central City of Jyväskylä, Rally Finland is the fastest event on the calendar and a jewel in the WRC’s crown.
Smooth gravel roads with heart-stopping jumps and blind corners winding through forests and around lakes demand bravery and pinpoint accuracy in the delivery of pace notes.
The Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy crew of Kelly and Mohan ended the morning loop in ninth place in the junior class.
Cancelled stages did not help their cause and the one uninterrupted stage they contested was hit by a very heavy rain shower that their rivals managed to avoid.
A string of top three times throughout the second loop of put them right back in contention.
A slow puncture on stage six deprived them of at least one fastest time in the class but they ended the opening full day of action in third place.
“We are in the groove now,” said Kelly ahead of the day’s penultimate stage.
They will start Saturday’s loop of six stages 9.7 seconds behind second-placed Gerardo Rosselot and 33.2 seconds behind leader Petr Borodin
Fellow Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy members Josh McErlean and James Fulton are 10th in WRC2 and sixth in the WRC2 Challenger category in their Skoda Fabia Raly2.
“It’s been an extremely demanding day just trying to stay out of trouble,” said McErlean.
“The rhythm just isn’t there for us at the moment and that’s something we can’t force so we will bide our time.”
“We’ll make some changes tonight and get some good sleep because tomorrow, we head into the best day of rallying in the world.”
McErlean starts day two in sixth place in the WRC2 challenger category,
William Creighton and Liam Regan were forced to retire their M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2 after picking up damage in ruts on stage six. They will get the car repaired overnight and resume under SuperRally rules.
Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron lost a load of time following a collision with a tree that ripped the right-rear wheel off their Toyota Yaris Rally1 but they will also return on Saturday under SuperRally rules.
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