Rally1 newbie Josh McErlean has been nothing but pragmatic about his huge World Rally Championship opportunity with M-Sport in 2025.
This chance? He never expected it so soon.
His speed? He knows it’s nothing to get excited about yet.
And on a weekend where three of his rivals crashed out, and several more had spins, offs and close calls, McErlean kept his head and got on with his own job – culminating in a very solid seventh place to kick off his season.
That counts for a lot.
The phrase ‘baptism of fire’ was invented for what the 25-year-old Irishman went through on the Monte: learning a new car, new category, new team, new tire and even a new co-driver.
But how did it actually feel?
Practically everything was new for McErlean on the Monte
“I think it’s only when we drove down the road into Monaco [on Sunday] that you realize what’s obviously happened since Thursday night,” McErlean tells DirtFish.
“You’re leaving Thursday night probably s****ing yourself and now you’re coming down with a smile,” he laughs.
“It’s nice to obviously complete all the stages. The performance wasn’t great at times but we knew that was going to be the case coming here in this car and it’s been a big challenge as we’ve seen today.
“This morning it was treacherous; tire choice, we’ve been through every tire combination that’s possible. I’ve never driven studs before so that shows you how big of a step and how big of a leap it was to actually come here in the first place.”
Nobody is more aware of the situation McErlean is in than McErlean himself.
“OK we knew it was going into a big challenge, I didn’t expect this opportunity so early on,” he continues.
“It’s been quite daunting the past couple of months, and month from the outside world knowing, to get used to it all. And to come to Monte Carlo and get every condition thrown at you, it’s been difficult. But hey, we finished top-10. You couldn’t ask for more at this minute.”
Completing every stage mile and building his experience, and therefore confidence, is what it’s all about for McErlean just now.
He explains: “You get experience with the rally, you get experience with the car, but even myself and Eoin [Treacy, co-driver] are quite new to each other. You need to get the mileage to build on it.
“There’s no point in sticking it in the ditch and then running out of mileage because, in these cars, you don’t get so much testing. It’s quite limited. So yeah, you have to finish the rallies at the start, definitely, to start building on it.
“But yeah, Sweden is going to be another new challenge. It’s again into the unknown but we have to expect this at the start of the season.
“It’s only really when we’re going to Canaries or Portugal or something that we can actually trust the experience from the past.
“We have a full campaign; it’s not often people get this opportunity. So, as I said, there’s no point in sticking it in a ditch early on and then running out of people’s trust and not getting any further. So it’s nice, but yeah, there’s still a lot of work to do.”
There’s no question about if the corner’s flat: it’s flat. And if there’s a cut: it’s a cutJosh McErlean
McErlean will, however, start Sweden far better prepared than he was for round one, simply because he has now driven the car for an entire rally weekend.
But what was the biggest thing he learned?
“The information that you get from RNCs, radio, the team… yeah, there’s a lot to digest obviously with all the different information coming with the different conditions,” he says.
“But yeah, the sheer power of the car, how much corner speed it can take in medium-to-high speed corners on bone-dry Tarmac is unbelievable. It’s actually a mind shift that you have to do to, let’s say, go fast.
“But yeah, it’s something that you have to look back on now and probably work on.
“The pace at the top, every stage is max attack – there’s no such thing as backing off, and what these cars can actually take and cuts and, yeah, the abuse they take,” McErlean adds, clearly still processing the reality of his new environment.
The ability of the Rally1 car blew McErlean's mind
“These guys are on the limit everywhere and there’s no question about if the corner’s flat: it’s flat. And if there’s a cut: it’s a cut.
“You have to trust yourself 100% of this level and you have to believe in it.”
There’s no question that it will take McErlean time to match those he’s up against, but he’s got a lot of people at the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy that believe in him for a reason.
Pace will come, but the attitude is already correct.