The debate has raged from top to bottom, and from coast to coast in America. But in Johnson City this week, there’s every chance we’re going to get some clarity.
The discussion? Open class versus Rally2: which is America’s fastest rally car?
Subaru’s WRX has dominated the ARA series since Barry McKenna took the title in an R5 car in 2020. A Rally2 victory is, of course, not unheard of – Citroën C3 driver Ricardo Cordero took this year’s Oregon Trail Rally after Brandon Semenuk and Travis Pastrana both hit the same rock and retired from the opening day.
But the question remains: can a Rally2 car beat a WRX in a straight fight? Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy founder and patron John Coyne will step aside from his Hyundai i20 N Rally2 and allow Josh McErlean to help provide an answer at this week’s Overmountain Rally, the penultimate round of this year’s American series.
McErlean is no stranger to flying a Hyundai - this was the Irishman in WRC action earlier in his career
Coyne, who recently sealed the ARA’s Rally2 car category, said: “I saw a great opportunity to give Josh more seat time while demonstrating the true potential of Rally2 cars as a competitive force in US rallying. I’m looking forward to seeing an exciting battle at the front of the field.”
McErlean, who arrives in Tennessee having just finished ninth overall at Acropolis Rally Greece, is no stranger to US rallying – he drove an i20 R5 to third overall on the 2021 Olympus Rally and co-drove Coyne’s i20 N Rally2 to eighth overall at 100 Acre Wood earlier this year.
This week the 25-year-old swaps sides of the same Hyundai and is looking forward to an event he thinks should suit the i20 over Subaru’s Open class WRX.
“From what we can see,” McErlean said, “this will be a highly technical rally with tight twisty stages, which should suit the Rally2 car.”
One man with more interest than most in the outcome of Overmountain is ARA director Preston Osborn.
“It’s really exciting to have a top-flight WRC2 competitor like Josh come to compete in an ARA event,” said Osborn. “He showed remarkable competitiveness three years ago on his first visit to the US and with the experience he has gained on the world championship circuit since then it will be a real treat for US fans to see him take the fight to the championship front runners.”
Overmountain Rally runs through the Cherokee National Forest this weekend.
Coyne is the man behind Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy and the man helping to answer America's big question
