On the one hand, Rally Portugal was positive for Josh McErlean.
The 26-year-old led his two M-Sport team-mates Jon Armstrong and Mãrtiņš Sesks when the comparison was representative, and almost won his first WRC stage in a Rally1 car at Fafe.
But Saturday afternoon, when the inclement weather arrived, was something of a disaster for McErlean as he slipped off the road and lost three minutes on SS17 Amarante 2.
Worse was to come, however, on the Lousada superspecial two stages later as McErlean hit the wall and retired from the leg within sight of its finish, and in front of a packed grandstand.
“I think the weekend has been big ups and very big downs as well,” McErlean told DirtFish. “Obviously with the pace within the team we were ahead most of the way until we weren’t. And then last night, obviously in Lousada, was a bit of a mess to be honest. Ifs, buts, maybes.
McErlean had the sympathy of his rivals for his trip into the Lousada wall
“OK, we were the first car on the road. I don’t know if someone else had gone in there [first], would they have done the same thing?”
The consensus seemed to be yes, with rival Takamoto Katsuta leaping to McErlean’s defense, unprompted, in his stage-end interview.
“I would say if I am in his [start] position, for sure it’s the same result,” the Toyota driver later told DirtFish. “He cannot do anything. That’s why I feel so sorry and a bit angry because anyone goes [and does] exactly the same. It’s so sorry for him.”
Comforting words for McErlean to hear, but it didn’t change the result. He was visibly dejected as he stood helplessly beside his damaged Puma Rally1.
“The stage had to be run, it’s for the people,” he said. “But yeah, with the mud, maybe we should have been [given] some sort of warning.
“You come over the crest and you literally tap the brake and you rotate the car and you go round the whole way and OK, it was very muddy. But still, in the previous stages, we were back 20%. Here I was even back 50% and it was still… it didn’t even rotate, it just went straight and I think we sped up as soon as we hit the mud.
“It was probably one of the worst places in rallying to hit a wall.”
McErlean was equally quick to pay tribute to the M-Sport mechanics, who worked until 3am to ready his car for Sunday where he almost took that stage win.
“At that point, it looked like our rally was over, so I really have to thank the whole team for the incredible effort they put in overnight to get the car repaired and back out for Sunday – without that effort we wouldn’t have had the chance to come back and show the speed we did,” he said.
That speed was chiefly on the first pass of Fafe, where for half an hour McErlean and Eoin Treacy held the fastest time. But a late and committed run from WRC2 driver Robert Virves – completed when McErlean was driving through the next stage – took it from them.
“It was one of those things where obviously he probably had the best conditions at the start and then it deteriorated and then it flipped on its head and got better,” McErlean reflected.
“But yeah, it’s one of those crazy events where this can happen.”
Focus now pivots to Rally Japan, the final Tarmac event for the current generation of Rally1 cars.
“The important thing in Portugal is that we kept pushing, kept learning and never gave up,” he concluded. “Every rally in the Rally1 car is still a huge learning experience for us, and weekends like this help build confidence and understanding. We’re continuing to improve our pace, especially across changing conditions, and we’re starting to put more complete weekends together.
“Japan is next, and we’re really looking forward to getting back onto Tarmac before the run of summer gravel rallies. It’s another event where the experience will be important, and hopefully we can keep building momentum and carry the positives from Portugal into the next round.”
