Unforgiving Armco denies McErlean top ten Canaries finish

Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy looked set to secure their third top ten World Rally Championship finish of the year before a collision with an Armco barrier ended their Canary Islands Rally on Sunday morning.

The Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy crew had been improving their pace aboard the M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 over the Canaries’ three-day asphalt event. McErlean continually tweaked the Puma’s set-up to climb up to tenth by the end of Saturday as he developed his experience on the niche Canary Islands stages.

Unfortunately, a drift wide on a right-hander on Sunday’s opening test ran their Puma into an unforgiving Armco barrier. The damage sustained meant the Irish duo were forced into retirement with four stages to go.

“This island has produced many memories,” reflected McErlean. “It has been difficult from the start, we began to make small progress over the three days with the whole package.

“It’s a big shame what happened today, a little too ambitious of a pacenote meant we carried too much speed and ran wide into an Armco barrier.

“I’m sorry for the whole team for this mistake. We have learned a lot about the car and my own driving this weekend.

“I look forward to getting back on the gravel now and into more familiar territory. Everything should come a little more naturally, and we can push on from here.”

Tyrone’s Aaron Johnston was Ireland’s top finisher, claiming fourth overall alongside Takamoto Katsuta. A solid performance from the Rally Sweden’s runner-up crew allowed them to climb from sixth on Friday to fourth on Saturday evening, maintaining Toyota’s 1-2-3-4 lockout on Sunday’s five stages.

An impressive drive had placed James Fulton and his Japanese driver, Yuki Yamamoto, sixth in a competitive field of 28 WRC2 Challenger crews. Set to secure their best WRC2 result together, it wasn’t to be as the Toyota Yaris Rally2 duo retired on the Canary Islands Rally’s penultimate test after the slightest of brushes against another Armco barrier.

Eamonn Boland and MJ Morrissey were able to complete the intense asphalt event in their Ford Fiesta Rally2. The experienced Irishmen added the Canary Islands Rally to their extensive list of WRC finishes, claiming 37th overall and seventh in the WRC Masters Cup.

The World Rally Championship moves back to mainland Europe for its next event in the middle of May, the legendary Rally Portugal.