The question draws laughter in response, but there’s nothing laughable about the prospect.
Such are the steps that Josh McErlean has made in 2024, the idea of him winning a round of the World Rally Championship’s premier support class feels palpable, feels believable, and dare we say now almost feels simply expected to happen?
Not that McErlean will be drawn into such talk, of course.
The laughter stops: “Realistically, I don’t know,” he offers DirtFish, contemplating whether he can win a round of WRC2 this year.
He came close to victory on Rally Portugal this year – but McErlean isn't sure when he'll be back in the same position again
“Maybe through other people’s bad luck or some mistakes or something like that it’s possible, anything’s possible in rallying, but I’m not going to say we can win one.”
It’s a sensible answer, but McErlean has now positioned himself as one of the names to get excited about on an entry list, not just a good support act to boost the ever-impressive numbers in the WRC2 class.
Perhaps the second half of that statement is a bit dismissive of McErlean’s previous world championship achievements – after all, he sensationally won a Rally Portugal superspecial outright in 2022 – but there’s little denying that it feels as if the Irishman truly belongs at this level now.
“Without doubt,” he agrees.
“It’s nice to be able to say you’re not just participating now, you’re in the mix with these guys and you can fight them on the stages.”
After an outing in the familiar surroundings of Rally GB in 2019, McErlean’s WRC journey for real started back in 2020, with a surprise-to-him chance to contest the season-concluding Monza Rally.
Since then, his programs have had WRC2 (and WRC3 when that was still for non-factory Rally2 drivers in 2021) as their nucleus, and included flashes of brilliance like that aforementioned overall stage win. But such is the competitiveness of the class, he’s never quite managed to step forward into the limelight.
This writer has often teased him about the Josh McErlean talent factory, with previous co-drivers including Aaron Johnston and Keaton Williams both stepping up into WRC/Rally1 machinery. McErlean’s not yet there himself, but his 2024 form has suggested that may not purely be a pipe dream.
Rally Portugal marked a clear step forward in McErlean's pathway towards the top level of rallying
The obvious highlight was Rally Portugal, where the 25-year-old fought tooth and nail for a debut win with Jan Solans. Ultimately a sub-par run on the penultimate stage damaged McErlean’s chances, and a sublime powerstage effort wasn’t enough to salvage them. But second was still a maiden WRC2 podium, and announced McErlean to the world.
The easy thing to do after such a strong result would be to slip back off the radar, particularly considering how fierce the WRC2 battle is today. Yet on his very next outing in Sardinia, McErlean and co-driver James Fulton were in the mix for the podium again before a puncture deflated their hopes.
Unfortunately, the subsequent trip to Poland ended in retirement as McErlean ripped the rear-right wheel off over the flying finish of SS17 – all caught live on TV – but once more he was in the top five and vying for the podium.
What he’s proved is Portugal was no flash in the pan – McErlean is consistently looking like a genuine WRC2 threat.
“Yeah, that’s definitely very satisfactory,” he says.
“It’s not ideal that we were so close [to a first win and missed out] but we have to look back to the start of the rally, remember who was there and what happened in the whole thing.
Two punctures wrecked his final rally position but McErlean's pace continued to show promise in Sardinia
“To be on the podium on our first time out in the Škoda realistically was a big thing. It’s not as if coming out of Portugal we’ve lost all pace and we’re not fighting for the podium again, so it’s good to be still in that position.
“But there’s still some work to do to get to the very top as the likes of Sami [Pajari] and Oliver [Solberg]. When they’re on the top of their game, they’re still 0.2–0.3 seconds per kilometer up the road.”
So where has this upturn in performance come from?
The obvious answer is the car. After years spent driving a Hyundai, McErlean and his team elected to join the Toksport fold, securing a seat in a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2. Or in other words, he’s driving the exact same package that won the championship last year in the hands of Andreas Mikkelsen.
This was a move that always looked good, but with the added benefit of hindsight, it looks sensational – not just because of the car and team, but because of the wealth of experience McErlean’s been able to glean from his three team-mates who all have Rally1 experience.
Between Gus Greensmith, Oliver Solberg and Pierre-Louis Loubet, there's plenty of top-level experience inside the Toksport tent for McErlean to tap into
“Yeah 100%,” McErlean agrees. “That was one of the main reasons why we needed to move to another team, for example Toksport, because there are the drivers, there are the engineers, there is the experience and you want to learn from that.
“With previous teams, we were the only ones there realistically guiding ourselves, but to get that experience from people above you is why you need to go to those places to get all the knowledge.”
McErlean adds a caveat: it’s not all down to the new car and team.
“Every year you learn something new about yourself and your pacenotes are always developing,” he explains.
“Yes, the team and the car are probably the biggest step. But we’re always learning. We’re looking at things in detail with the engineers in the team and that’s what you’re learning from – other drivers as well, for example Oliver’s testing data, Pierre[-Louis Loubet]’s testing data, that’s where the small details come from and the small time difference is at.
When the next step will come isn't quite clear. McErlean's not betting on it being Latvia – but never say never
“Through the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy, we’re always pushing forward to look at the last bit and I think it’s now where it really counts because it’s small time differences moving forward.”
This week’s Rally Latvia offers McErlean his next chance to shine (now’s also a good time to point out McErlean’s been clever in selecting his WRC2 calendar as they’re nearly all events he has solid experience of). But, having raised the bar, is he now raising his self-expectation?
“Looking at Latvia, OK from the back of Poland you could say, yes, you don’t want it to end up like Poland did. So going into Sunday even, we were pushing and had we stepped back a little we could easily have got the podium through people’s misfortunes or punctures. Your mindset maybe changes a little to be a bit more patient at that certain time, but you can’t tell the future at that point,” he says.
“It’s good to go in with a top-five [being] realistic [to aim for]. Podium… yeah, at a push, it’s definitely a target. But it’s a pretty new rally for everyone and there are many corners that people don’t know; they’re the ones you need to be watching.”
Apt words from a man who’s now being watched, and taken far more seriously, by rally fans, drivers and media alike.
