The fastest growing WRC career

Eoin Treacy has moved up a class for the past four years, ending up in Rally1 for 2025 alongside Josh McErlean

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There’s a commonly adopted phrase in modern vocabulary that says someone or something’s downfall needs to be studied.

But I’m finding myself in need of a reverse expression. What about the rise of Eoin Treacy?

If Josh McErlean is a fresh face at the World Rally Championship’s top table, then words don’t exist for how rapidly Treacy has made it there.

In 2022 he was sitting in a Rally4 car. In 2023, his driver Johnnie Mulholland upgraded his Fiesta to a Rally3. Last year, Treacy joined Jon Armstrong in a Rally2 Fiesta for a European Rally Championship campaign, and now? Rally1 beckons for 2025.

Even without understanding any of the context behind it, Treacy’s story is remarkable.

“Obviously at this level of the sport there’s nine to 11 seats, depending on the way you look at it,” Treacy tells DirtFish.

“So, you know, it’s a small place to be. It’s hard to see yourself being there, especially when there’s so many Rally2 guys all battling to get those Rally1 seats, so when you look at the numbers you’re like that’s a hard place to be.

“But yeah… suddenly you’re there.”

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Treacy's career is still growing, but he's landed a seat in the big time for 2025

Martijn Wydaeghe, Jonne Halttunen, Martin Järveoja, Scott Martin, Vincent Landais… the Irishman is one of them now.

“Yeah!” he says, perhaps still in disbelief. “They’re world champions and rally winners – those guys have seen it all you know, so it’s crazy to be joining them.”

But what about the context of the story? How has a 26-year-old with a shave over 50 rally starts in his entire career (including just two in the world championship prior to this season) found himself on the verge of a full WRC campaign in M-Sport’s works lineup?

Like many, it began with his father, Allen, who regularly drove when Eoin was growing up. That meant Treacy’s childhood is punctuated with memories of helping his dad prepare the car in the workshop, before he got the chance to get in himself.

“When I turned 16 I got my license and we did a forestry rally just to see what it was like,” he remembers. “I honestly didn’t know what to expect, and then it turned out my dad’s navigator wasn’t available for the Cork 20, which would be our local international. So I took the chance to sit in, and yeah, from there I just loved the experience of it all, like co-driving, the buzz of it.

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Treacy's first co-driving experiences were alongside his father back home in Ireland

“And at that rally I met Greg Shinnors, who won the BRC in 2009 with Keith [Cronin], so he gave me a lot of encouragement. I was still in school, so I was only doing one to two rallies a year and doing some local navigation trials.

“Then when I graduated from college, I joined the [Motorsport Ireland Rally] Academy. So that was how I started.”

Just like it has with Treacy’s driver this year, McErlean, the MI Rally Academy has helped both open doors and up his skill level to reach the point now of being a full-blown professional.

His rallying career may still be immature, but Treacy’s attitude absolutely isn’t. Those who’ve worked with him speak incredibly highly of him, and he’s already packed in a load of varied experiences including Rally México and Finland in 2023 (as well as the American Rally Association season last year) alongside Academy founder John Coyne – plus the ERC with Armstrong in an official M-Sport car and the East African Safari Rally with McErlean, with a few Rally2 tests with McErlean to boost.

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His pacenote delivery and timing is extremely good, like a machine gun rattling them off! Jon Armstrong

“I have to say since I joined in 2022, the Academy has just brought me on and on, given me great experience and put me in touch with great people,” Treacy says.

“Greg Shinnors has been a great mentor to me throughout the years and gives me great advice, and Paul Nagle has been fantastic in helping me along as well. It’s great to have people who’ve been there and done everything to guide you along and remind you of the important things.”

There’s no denying the scale of the challenge that lies ahead of Treacy though. McErlean has a tough task adapting, but he’s at least got years of WRC2 experience to utilize.

But having worked with him last year when the ERC was also a brand-new challenge, Armstrong has zero doubt that his now former co-driver is up to the job.

“He’s a top lad, very relaxed and easy going, doesn’t show any pressure and stays cool even when things are getting stressful,” Armstrong tells DirtFish. “His pacenote delivery and timing is extremely good, like a machine gun rattling them off!

“I’d say he’s more than capable of it [the step up to Rally1]. There’s a learning period for him and Josh of course, but Eoin will be able to get to grips with everything and is good at making friends in a team.”

Treacy feels his experience with M-Sport and Armstrong last year will prove invaluable.

“Last year was a huge step up. Walking in the door of Dovenby Hall last March, ahead of the ERC, that was surreal,” he says.

Jon ARMSTRONG

Treacy has experience working with M-Sport before, contesting the ERC in a Fiesta Rally2 last year

“And then to work with Jon who, you know, has done the JWRC, and now the ERC, and he was going in [last tear] as ERC3 champion. So it was big pressure but it was so good for me to learn from a driver like him.

“He takes it so seriously, he’s rapidly quick, so that was a huge step up and working with the team then, to see how a team like that operates, you can see why they are one of the top teams.

“It’s brilliant to be working with them again,” Treacy adds. “There’s a huge crossover of people, so it’s brilliant to just walk in, you know there’s familiar faces. It makes the whole thing less daunting.

“Everyone in M-Sport is so helpful and friendly. There’s a real great atmosphere around the team, so that’s a big help as well.”

This entire chance all happened very late – even for McErlean who thought he was in for a few Rally1 outings, not a full season. Treacy meanwhile wasn’t expecting to be so busy so early into the year, but James Fulton’s decision to join the Toyota WRC Challenge Program alongside Yuki Yamamoto for 2025 accelerated Treacy’s WRC ambitions.

He’s a professional and has a job to do, but is allowing himself to get excited too when the times allows.

“I’m really looking forward to that buzz,” Treacy smiles. “I’d always watch the first stage of the season [on TV]. I was always wondering ‘would I go and watch it some time?’

“And now we’re going to be facing into it with the lamp pods on, so that’ll be mega exciting.

“There are those days where you’re preparing and you’re like, ‘wow, this is a mammoth task’ but we have to break it down,” he adds. “At the end of the day, it’s another rally, a huge rally, very challenging, but I’m just really excited.

“Earlier this week, settling into the car in the snow, doing all that work was good but then getting running on dry Tarmac was a huge boost for confidence. Just to feel the car and what it can do. That takes the edge off the whole thing as well.”

So considering their lack of experience in this kind of car, at this level and on the Monte specifically, what can we realistically expect from them next week?

“Yeah, it’s really hard to know,” Treacy confesses. “I’ve never been here before, Josh was here in 2023, so it’s so hard to know. And as the only, I suppose, full rookie crew going to the rally, it’s hard to know where to even expect to put yourself.

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This season will be a baptism of fire for both McErlean and Treacy, but they're looking forward to it

What isn’t hard to know is how big a moment this is for both McErlean and Treacy, but perhaps particularly Treacy.

Four years ago he was finishing his education and wondering how he could take his rallying more seriously. Now, he’s limbering up to start a full WRC campaign, representing M-Sport Ford and carrying the hopes of Ireland on his shoulders.

“You’re fully engrossed in it and you’re focusing on the rally and then there are moments where you go, ‘wow, I’m actually going to Monte Carlo and we’re going to be rolling out of Casino Square on Thursday night’.

“That is a pinch-me moment. I cannot wait to get started.”

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