MCERLEAN SHINES ON R5 DEBUT AT WALES RALLY GB
Youngster showed an impressive turn of speed as he went up against the WRC elite
Josh Mcerlean admits he was surprised by the pace he showed on his R5 debut at last weekend’s Wales Rally GB after going up against the likes of Ott Tanak, Sebastien Ogier and Kris Meeke.
The 20-year-old was competing in a Hyundai i20 R5 after winning the Junior British Rally Championship, a prize spearheaded by British Rally Championship boss, Iain Campbell, with support from Hyundai Motorsport.
Driving against the best in the World Rally Championship, Mcerlean was running 24th overall midway through Friday having impressed with his speed, particularly with a top-20 spot on stage three, Penmachno.
He was running close to the pace of Tom Cave – British Rally Championship runnerup and Hyundai i20 driver – in the RC2 class, sitting just 24 seconds behind his more experienced rival.
“We were probably a wee bit surprised by our pace but we were just driving to our notes so it was a really good experience and great fun so hopefully we have another day like that,” Mcerlean told MN.
“It felt quite comfortable. Obviously the Hyundai i20 R5 has proven to be a good car so we had a really good learning experience and everything felt good. We had no major issues.
“To be on the pace of the British championship [drivers], as really that’s what it was, straight away on our debut in an R5 was great to see and really positive moving forward.”
Mcerlean and co-driver Keaton Williams’ rally unravelled just a mile into the second running of Elsi on Friday afternoon though, and he had to pull out with a technical problem. The car was brought back to service where the team “had a fair idea of the damage that was caused so the guys knew we couldn’t get out, so we just had to take it on the chin and move on”.
His focus now is on trying to win this year’s Motorsport Ireland Billy Coleman Award as he keeps an eye open for further R5 opportunities.
“It’s great to be a part of the Motorsport Ireland Academy next year so we’ll just have to look forward to that and work on our interview process and see how that goes,” he said.
“This is a major bit of our career going forward so we’re looking forward to that.”