Josh McErlean and Adrien Fourmaux have both been handed one-minute time penalties at Acropolis Rally Greece for moving their vehicles without seatbelts correctly fastened.
McErlean had finished the eighth round of the 2026 World Rally Championship a career-best fourth overall after surviving a scare when he outbraked himself on the penultimate stage.
However that mistake has come back to penalize him, as co-driver Eoin Treacy’s seatbelts weren’t fully fastened when McErlean initially traversed the stage because he’d loosened them expecting to have to get out the car and display the OK board.
Treacy explained in the stewards hearing that he told McErlean not to go because his belts weren’t completely fastened, but video evidence proved the car was in motion before Treacy’s belts were completely fastened.
The time penalty drops the M-Sport crew to sixth overall, which ironically is still a career-best WRC result.
Fourmaux stopped to change a puncture on SS12, but set off without Coria's belts fully fastened
Fourmaux, who had finished two places behind McErlean in sixth, drops one spot to seventh due to his own penalty for exactly the same offence.
Stopping to change a punctured tire on SS12, Fourmaux set off thinking co-driver Alexandre Coria’s belts were fully fastened. He quickly realized this wasn’t the case and slowed the car, but again video evidence proved what had happened and the Hyundai pair were handed the penalty.
As a consequence, Sami Pajari moves up to fourth place in the results while championship leader Elfyn Evans gains two positions to fifth. That gifts him four championship points and therefore extends his advantage to 11 over Takamoto Katsuta and 37 over rally winner Sébastien Ogier.
