McErlean Seventh as Armstrong Recovers in Rally Finland

McErlean Seventh as Armstrong Recovers in Rally Finland
Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy led the Irish effort at Rally Finland, bringing their M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 home in seventh overall.

McErlean ran inside the top eight throughout the weekend, managing a misted windscreen on SS7 during Friday afternoon’s downpour. He fought Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville for sixth on Saturday before securing seventh on Sunday’s final stages.

“Rally Finland complete,” said Josh McErlean. “It’s been a crazy weekend with the number of accidents along the way, but we’ve kept our noses clean and to finish seventh overall is a really positive result. Obviously Friday was tricky with the weather, but after that we found a good pace and were fighting with Thierry throughout Saturday. It was hard to hold on to that on Sunday, but overall it was a clean weekend with plenty of positives to take away, and hopefully we can carry that into South America and come away with another good result.”

Jon Armstrong and Shane Byrne faced early frustration on Friday when their Puma Rally1 clipped a bank on SS3 and became beached in a ditch. Restarting under Super Rally rules on Saturday, Armstrong matched McErlean’s stage times and closed his event with a sixth-fastest run on Sunday’s Power Stage.

“It’s my first Rally Finland in 10 years, and I wanted to get as much mileage as possible to learn more about the event,” said Jon Armstrong. “That was the aim, but on Friday we got caught out on one of the narrow roads, got pulled into the ditch and got stuck, so it was a shame not to finish the day and get that extra mileage. After that, it was all about getting as much seat time as possible on Saturday and Sunday, learning more about the event and the roads. Some of the pace has been pretty good, but we obviously still need to improve going forward. Overall it’s been an okay weekend, and now we’re looking forward to South America to learn what those events are all about, as well as the Grampian Rally next weekend.”

In WRC2, M-Sport Fiesta Rally2 crews Romet Jürgenson/Siim Oja and Mille Johansson/Johan Grönvall finished fifth and sixth in class respectively.

Both Irish crews now turn their focus to the upcoming South American WRC double-header, with Armstrong also competing in the Grampian Rally next weekend.