McErlean Secures Strong Seventh as Irish Crews Tackle Rally Finland
Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy delivered a composed Rally Finland performance, while Jon Armstrong and Shane Byrne salvaged valuable mileage after an early setback.
Josh McErlean and co-driver Eoin Treacy produced a measured and mature drive at Rally Finland, bringing their M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 home seventh overall after a demanding weekend on some of the fastest roads in the World Rally Championship.
The Irish crew arrived in Finland aiming to build on the pace shown at Rally Estonia, and they made a clean start on Friday morning to sit eighth overall by the midpoint of the day. Conditions, however, became increasingly difficult as heavy rain swept across the stages during the afternoon.
McErlean was among those affected when visibility was severely reduced on SS7 after his windscreen misted up in the opening kilometres. Forced to slow significantly, he dropped 20.3 seconds to the stage winner, but he responded impressively with the fifth-fastest time on SS9 to hold seventh overnight.
Saturday brought another stern test. After Takamoto Katsuta moved ahead on the opening stage, McErlean found himself defending eighth place from reigning world champion Thierry Neuville. Despite struggling for grip following Friday’s rain, he remained consistent and moved back up to seventh when teammate Martins Sesks stopped on SS14.
A further position came his way after Sébastien Ogier’s accident, briefly lifting McErlean to sixth before Neuville closed in. The Hyundai driver was just 5.5 seconds behind heading into Saturday’s final stage and eventually edged ahead, leaving McErlean seventh at the end of the day.
Two clean runs through the Himos-Jämsä stage on Sunday, both seventh-fastest, sealed seventh overall for McErlean and Treacy — a result that underlined their growing consistency at the sport’s top level.
“Rally Finland complete,” said 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.”
Armstrong Builds Experience After Early Exit
For Jon Armstrong and Shane Byrne, the weekend was one of recovery and learning. Contesting Rally Finland for the first time in a decade, Armstrong approached the event with enthusiasm and confidence, setting the eighth-fastest time on Friday’s opening stage.
Their rally was disrupted on SS3 when the pair clipped a bank and slid into a ditch, leaving the car beached. Although the Puma sustained no significant damage, the crew could not extract it and were forced to retire from the day, missing valuable competitive mileage.
With only minor work required in service, Armstrong and Byrne returned on Saturday determined to make the most of Finland’s iconic high-speed roads. They stayed within a second of McErlean’s times during the morning loop and continued to build confidence in the car.
The focus remained on clean running and experience-gathering, and Armstrong was able to rediscover his Friday morning pace, matching McErlean at times and staying close to Neuville. As the day progressed, he settled further into the rhythm and enjoyed the full speed of the Rally1 machinery.
Sunday offered a positive conclusion as Armstrong and Byrne went sixth-fastest on the Power Stage, narrowly missing out on points but ending their weekend on an encouraging note before a short summer break.
“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 Armstrong, who finished 46th overall. “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.”
Katsuta Frustrated After Final-Stage Off
Takamoto Katsuta, co-driven by Fintona navigator Aaron Johnston, endured a difficult end to his Rally Finland after going off on the final stage. “It’s been a really tough weekend for me,” Katsuta said. “Today I was hoping to try and take some extra points but it didn’t go so well in the end. In the final stage I saw a rock sticking out on the inside and tried to avoid it, but there was so much loose gravel off the line. We went wide and couldn’t make the next right-hander and hit a tree. It was my mistake and I feel very sorry for the team. I just need to reset and do better next time.”
Fulton Reaches Finish as Others Hit Trouble
Meanwhile, County Cavan co-driver James Fulton guided Japanese driver Yuki Yamamoto to 45th overall in their Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 after the pair rejoined under Super Rally rules following an earlier accident. Craig Rahill and Conor Smith rolled out of the event on stage five in their Ford Fiesta Rally3.