In 2026, one M-Sport Ford driver has had the edge over the other at each World Rally Championship event.
For the first time, that driver was Josh McErlean in the Canaries.
Before Jon Armstrong was even announced as his team-mate for this season (although McErlean did know it in secret), McErlean made clear he wasn’t interested in comparisons to the other Ford Puma.
“We’ve seen this at points last year with team-mates and focusing on what they’re doing and how they’re doing it and… yeah, I think it’s not a good direction to go,” he told DirtFish.
“From a benchmark point of view, it’s always a great thing to have. But on the actual performance side, you have to focus on your own ability and improve it as best as possible.”
McErlean made genuine progress in Gran Canaria
But with Armstrong quite rightly earning plenty of plaudits across 2026 so far, McErlean would only be human if he felt some satisfaction in reversing the tide in Gran Canaria.
Armstrong’s weekend was far from his best, making two mistakes he was lucky to emerge unscathed from. But McErlean equally made a genuine step forward in his Tarmac pace.
The Irish driver didn’t complete last year’s Rally Islas Canarias, crashing out on Sunday morning, but if we examine his seconds per kilometer deficit to the rally-leading Toyota at the point before he crashed to his end result in 2026, McErlean improve by 0.31 s/km.
That’s significant.
“It’s nice to get a clean rally,” the 26-year-old admitted. “Obviously it’s been a while since one of these, and yeah, [it’s beeb] a really tough start to the year, there’s no doubt about that there.
“Honestly it’s been nice, clean from our side, we got eighth overall, battling with Jon throughout the weekend was a big step forward since Croatia and to match him in Tarmac [is positive] as we know we’ve talked about how quick he is.
“Obviously we weren’t on the same pace as other cars but it’s been a good improvement from me personally with Tarmac driving.”
McErlean admitted getting the better of Armstrong was a confidence boost.
“Yeah, 100%. I think coming here we knew after Croatia we had to do something to step it up and try a bit more. And yeah, it was only a week ago since Croatia and we’ve tried to turn it around so that’s a big step and it’s a big thanks to the team as well for helping me with that and the driving side and the data. It’s been a big effort with all that there.
“But now we go to Portugal – probably the biggest one for me in the year.”
And it’s what makes McErlean’s step forward so well-timed. Tarmac form is irrelevant for next week’s Rally Portugal, but as he alluded to it’s a rally where he’s always gone well.
McErlean won his first WRC stage in Portugal, almost won WRC2 in 2024 and delivered one of his best Rally1 performances in 2025
“I think it’s probably the event I’ve got the most experience of,” he explained. “I’ve done it a lot of times and the character of the stages is nice. Obviously, the fans are really nice as well, but yeah, some of the best stages for me in the championship.”
McErlean tested the Puma for a day on Tuesday to get his eye back in, leaving him confident of a strong showing in Matosinhos.
“We’ve obviously been there last year in the Puma, the year before that we were fighting for the WRC2 win, so we know the stages quite well,” he said. “I think there’s 15 different stages in Portugal this year which obviously makes the recce quite big but it’s one of the events I enjoy.
“Let’s see. Let’s try and fight.”
