Shuffling down the line of journalists that had formed within the gazebo that housed the media zone in Umeå, Josh McErlean approached DirtFish’s camera.
His body language was reserved; timid even. He certainly was not exuding the sort of outer confidence you’d get from a Thierry Neuville, or the aura of an Ott Tänak.
“You’re looking a bit shy, Josh,” I remarked.
“Wouldn’t you be if you were surrounded by these guys?” he responds.
Accelerated into the world of being a full-time Rally1 driver at the top of the World Rally Championship, the 25-year-old is still finding his footing.
But the work his feet did on the pedals inside his Ford Puma at Rally Sweden helped allay any feelings of imposter syndrome.
We all know McErlean is far from the finished article, but “slowly but surely” he is beginning to feel like he belongs.
“I think this weekend’s been a big help for that there,” he tells DirtFish. “To be mixing it with some of the best in the world is definitely a big thing to take forward. But again, there’s no point getting too excited, there’s still a lot to learn.”
‘Surprise’ at Swedish speed
McErlean was a match for all of his team-mates in Sweden, which he didn't expect
McErlean arrived in Sweden after a “baptism of fire” in Monte Carlo, where almost everything was new to him. Despite only starting Rally Sweden once before, he declared himself to be “more confident” with things feeling “a bit more natural here”.
“It’s not as daunting, I would say,” he explained. “Casino Square is daunting in itself, never mind the clientele you’re with. So, yeah, it’s a bit more natural. [There’s] still a long way to go in terms of properly feeling at home with the whole thing but, yeah, it takes rallies to do that.”
McErlean is under instruction to just get through the first three rallies and build his experience, with a focus on improving speed as the year wears on.
“That’s a bit frustrating for him because it’s not what they like to do, being told just finish every stage and don’t make any mistakes because it’s hard in your mindset to drive that way,” McErlean’s M-Sport boss, Richard Millener, told DirtFish.
“But it paid off in Monte. I think here it’s more tricky. I’m not sure it’ll pay off in quite the same way here, because the other guys will be very fast and there’s a bit more consistency here. OK, we have the tires, we have the things that we don’t know about yet that will affect the results.
“But if he can get these first three under his belt, that was the goal. And then we start reassessing from Canaries onwards and see what we want him to do.”
McErlean however has already laid down a marker.
Discounting SS16 where he got stuck in a snowbank, caught by rising temperatures making the snow softer and less reliable to lean on, the Irishman’s deficit to the fastest car decreased massively compared to Monte.
While he was never within 1s/km of the stage winner on round one, he was regularly under that barometer in Sweden – and even as close as 0.28s/km on SS6 as he set the fifth fastest time and beat two world champions: Thierry Neuville and Kalle Rovanperä.
“We completed every stage mile at Monte, we did it here, but the biggest thing to take away is we showed some good pace,” McErlean admitted.
“It surprised me, to be honest. I’m not sure about anyone else what their expectations were, but it was nice to take away and it’s a nice confidence boost going forward.”
Where did that hike in pace come from?
“I’m not sure, to be honest. From the test, from shakedown, everything felt quite natural. Obviously, you don’t know what the speed is like on testing. You have no, let’s say, reference to speed or times. Everyone tests on a different road, so you can’t go by team-mates at that point.
“It just felt natural. It gave you confidence. The car gives you confidence. They’re designed to go fast. But genuinely, I don’t know why it’s been so quick straight away. We have shown speed on fast gravel last year, but we still weren’t that close to Sami [Pajari].”
Plan stays intact for Kenya
Safari Rally Kenya is another total step into the unknown for McErlean, who did the East African Classic Safari in 2023 but has never done the WRC event.
But he and co-driver Eoin Treacy won’t land in Africa suddenly believing they can fight with the very best. Their learning process continues, and in those conditions they’re back to square one.
The frozen forests of Sweden were a very different challenge to what McErlean faces next
“Yeah, it’s going to be another new experience,” McErlean said. “It’s obviously a bucket list one. It’s been on the WRC calendar for many years now.
“Looking back at the days of Colin McRae with the snorkel and helicopter shots is definitely a nice thing to be looking forward to. But yeah, no expectations again.
“I think it’s going to be an endurance event, as it’s shown in the past years, so a different approach maybe is needed to be there at the finish and anything can happen there with the result.”
McErlean did confess his knowledge of the country from the two-week classic event certainly “doesn’t do any harm”.
He added: “Yeah, OK, maybe not on the driving side, maybe the mentality of never giving up. I think some of that mentality came in [in Sweden] at a point.
McErlean will head back home to Ireland this weekend in a Fiesta Rally2
“But yeah, even just to see the culture, to see what the country has to offer back in 2023, whenever we did the Classic, definitely doesn’t do any harm.”
Before then, he’ll drive a Ford Fiesta Rally2 in the opening round of the Irish National championship, Midland Moto Stages Rally, this Sunday (March 2).
“Paul Rowley, a supporter of ours, is offering the car, so it’s an M-Sport Fiesta Rally2. I’ve never driven it before, so it’s good to go back and have the craic at home,” McErlean smiled.
“You can learn anything with a rally car, every day is a learning day, but we want to have fun and enjoy it. It’s always nice to go back to Ireland to enjoy the stages, enjoy the atmosphere with the local support. So we’ll see how we go on and give it a go.”
