Josh McErlean’s 2026 World Rally Championship scorecard doesn’t make for good reading so far.
At the season opener he went off the road at the same slippery corner of stage two that ripped a wheel off Sami Pajari’s Toyota and retired; then he slid off into a ditch and retired on Friday’s final stage and, finally, crashed into the barriers near the finish of the penultimate stage and retired on the road section.
In Sweden he finished ninth, afflicted by a double deflation triggered by tire pressures set too low by the team. He and co-driver Eoin Treacy then forgot to take off radiator blanks for the first pass of Umeå Sprint and had to drive in road mode to the end of Friday’s competitive mileage.
Kenya was brutal. His Ford Puma Rally1’s water temperatures skyrocketed on SS2 after ingesting copious amounts of mud when the heavens opened on the later runners. Even after all the detritus had been cleared from the engine bay and cooling system, mechanical gremlins remained. A puncture on stage seven had far greater consequences: with the rideheight affected, he smashed the underside of the car, punching through the sump guard and breaking the gearbox.
Somewhere in all that Safari mud is a Ford Puma Rally1
“He hit a lot of Kenya in one go,” was team principal Rich Millener’s summary to DirtFish at the time.
“It went sump guard, gearbox, gearbox mount. It’s a lot of damage from the impact, it’s a big one.”
Two non-finishes and a ninth place aren’t much to write home about. But Millener is feeling sympathetic for how McErlean’s start to 2026 has gone. His Monte may have been marred by a string of errors on the slippery ice of the French Alps but a team error in Sweden and mechanical problems in Kenya means M-Sport is focusing on the positives of McErlean’s season so far.
“It’s a shame for him because it just seems he can’t catch a break at the minute,” said Millener. “But I think the positives are the speed he did show when he didn’t have the issue.”
With team-mate Jon Armstrong outperforming him on the first two rallies of the season and the 2019 British Junior champion unable to make a proper go of the Safari, there’s naturally pressure on his shoulders. But Millener feels McErlean hasn’t been trying too hard; if anything, patience will be rewarded.
Glum faces for now, but McErlean has the backing of his boss and M-Sport team
“I don’t think he’s overdriving,” said Millener. “Certainly a little pressure will be there but it’s not through Jon, it’s not through us, it’s not through anyone [else]. He’s a driver, he wants to be where he knows he can be and it’s frustrating when you [have] a few mistakes from his side, a few issues on the car side.
“It’s hard when it’s going like that and it seems to never end but it will end at some point. We know that but it’s making sure your head’s strong enough to get out of that position; I’m sure he will be.
“They [McErlean and Treacy] know that we want them to do as well as Jon is doing, so we’ll get them back there.”
Next week’s Croatia Rally will be McErlean’s first time competing on the Adriatic coast. He has taken on Rally Islas Canarias twice before, crashing out of last year’s edition on the final day while running 10th and finishing 21st when contesting the 2020 edition in a Hyundai i20 R5.
