Kelly secures Rally Sweden podium on Junior WRC opener
Eamonn Kelly and Conor Mohan got their Junior WRC campaign off to a strong start with a third-place finish on Rally Sweden. Fellow Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy members Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy showed great pace in the winter conditions before a brush with a snowbank spoiled their hopes of a points-scoring finish.
Kelly started Rally Sweden with the third-fastest Junior WRC time on its opening Umea Sprint test. The Donegal driver struggled to find his snow-rally groove on Friday morning but bounced back on the repeat loop of stages to move up from sixth to third.
The MI Rally Academy crew found themselves locked in a battle with Turkey’s Ali Turkkan for a spot on the Junior WRC podium. Seven-tenths of a second covered the two Ford Fiesta Rally3 crews after a small spin for Kelly on Saturday’s opening stage. The duel for third intensified throughout Rally Sweden’s penultimate day of action with Kelly holding a slender 1.2-second advantage ahead of Sunday’s deciding three stages.
A second-fastest time on Sunday morning’s 29-kilometre Vastervik stage proved crucial in Kelly and Mohan’s fight for a Swedish podium. Their impressive effort extended the gap over fourth to 16.1 seconds, a margin they calmly managed until the end of the four-day event.
Kelly and Mohan’s podium is a repeat of their Rally Sweden result from 12 months ago - a solid platform to build a Junior WRC challenge. Rally Portugal is Junior WRC’s next event, taking place in May.
Making only their second Rally1 start, Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy exhibited an impressive turn of pace on Rally Sweden’s high-speed snow stages. A strong start to Friday’s stages put the Irish duo at the front of M-Sport’s pack of four Ford Pumas.
An overshoot on a stage five hairpin dropped McErlean to eighth overall but he bounced back on the next 20-kilometre Andersvattnet test to set a top-five time. His stage six effort was faster than both reigning world champion Thierry Neuville and two-time champion Kalle Rovanpera.
The 25-year-old started Rally Sweden’s final day in eighth, sandwiched between WRC2 Champion Sami Pajari and M-Sport team-mate Gregoire Munster.
Unfortunately, a tap against a snowbank on Sunday’s opening stage pulled McErlean and Treacy’s Puma Rally1 into one of the rally’s notorious snow drifts. Against all odds, the M-Sport crew, with help from spectators, managed to dig the Puma out of the snow, enabling them to complete the rally’s two remaining stages.
It was a weekend to remember for Aaron Johnston who claimed a runner-up finish in Sweden alongside Takamoto Katsuta.
A multitude of top-three stage times kept the Toyota Yaris Rally1 crew in the hunt for their maiden World Rally Championship victory. A fastest time on Sunday’s opener put them into the rally lead but succumbed to a late Elfyn Evans charge and settled for second behind their Toyota team-mates.
The result equals their best WRC finish to date, last year’s Safari Rally Kenya. Interestingly, that is the next event on the WRC calendar.
Cavan co-driver James Fulton guided another Japanese driver in Yuki Yamamoto to seventh-place finish in WRC2 Challenger. The Toyota Yaris Rally2 crew finished 17th overall.