McERLEAN READY FOR PORTUGUESE GRAVEL DEBUT
Josh McErlean says it’s likely that his competitive instinct will take over when he returns to Rali Terras d’Aboboreira this weekend despite using the two-day event as a test session.
McErlean has entered the Amarante-based rally –the third round of the Portuguese Rally Championship and a qualifier for the ERT Iberian Rally Trophy – in order to familiarise himself with Hyundai’s i20 N Rally2 car on the loose. The event takes place on Friday and Saturday.
Gravel is the only surface on which McErlean has yet to sample the Hyundai, which he campaigns in WRC2 this year, and his second career outing on the Terras d’Aboboreira is intended to prepare the 22-year-old for
Rally Portugal towards the end of next month.
McErlean said: “We haven’t competed on gravel since Portugal last year so the priority is to get a good feeling in the new car but I’m very confident the feeling will come early.
“The key goal is finding the car’s sweet spot as far as gravel set-up goes. However, we won’t find this until we are driving the car fast. Everything works that bit better when you are driving well.”
Joining in the frenetically competitive Portuguese series harbours no fears for the Northern Irishman, and although the event is intended to be a test, he stated his intention to grab the best result possible.
“When you want to be the best and get to the top of this sport you never go places to make up the numbers – I wouldn’t enjoy rallying if it wasn’t competitive,” he said. “The main priority is to get a good feeling in the car. Do that and the stage times and results will follow that.”