McCOURT PLOTS FOUR-ROUND EUROPEAN RALLYING CAMPAIGN IN 2021
Cathan McCourt will start at least four rounds of the European Rally Championship this season, beginning with next month’s Azores Rally.
Competing in a Ford Fiesta Rally2 alongside Brian Hoy, McCourt had intended on entering events ad hoc, with Rallye Le Touquet in France one of those. However, its postponement of due to strict coronavirus restrictions across the country led to a rethink.
“We are going to do the first four [ERC] rounds to see how we get on and take it from there,” 2019 Irish Forestry champion McCourt told MN. “We wanted to be active in the sport again and we are really looking forward to getting started now.
“Myself and Brian just want to learn and progress on every rally – that’s the main objective,” he added. “The experience of doing ERC events and the knowledge you gain being out there is just unbelievable.”
McCourt is no stranger to the ERC having started Rally Liepaja in Latvia and Rally Islas Canarias during the second half of last season. He was on course to record respectable results on both events only for mechanical and turbo woes to intervene and cut short his involvement.
However, those setbacks – and the opportunity to recce the stages – are experiences McCourt says will help him ahead of his newest campaign.
“I learned a lot from making my own pacenotes for each event,” he said, “not to mention reading into and understanding all the different rules and regulations. Based on all of those experiences, I know more about what to expect going into this year.”