McErlean’s outstanding fifth-place WRC2 finish at Rally of Central Europe / Kelly’s masterful Italian job

Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy crew Josh McErlean and James Fulton delivered an outstanding fifth-place finish in the WRC2  category at the Rally of Central Europe over the weekend.

This was the TokSport Škoda Motorsport crew’s second-best result of the season following their amazing second-place finish on their Škoda debut at Rally de Portugal in May.

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McErlean and Fulton’s performance was all the more impressive given it was their first run in the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 on a tarmac round of the World Rally Championship, their first tarmac rally at this level and their first all-asphalt WRC event since the corresponding rally last season.

The rally opened on Thursday night with a spectator stage and a traditional closed-road stage in the Czech Republic. A further six stages were completed in the Czech Republic on Friday before the weekend’s action in Germany and Austria.

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A further six stages were held along the German/ Austrian border on Saturday.

Sunday’s four-stage blast to the finish was contained entirely within Germany and included the new Knaus Tabbert Am Hochwald stage and the revamped Passauer Land test. Passau’s picturesque town hall provided the backdrop for the final podium and prize-giving ceremony.

Changeable weather conditions, slippery roads and even dense fog added to the challenge.

The Skoda Motorsport/Toksport driver started Sunday’s leg in 13th position overall and fifth in both the WRC2 and WRC Challenger categories.

A solid run over Sunday’s loop saw them finish in 11th place overall after they were consistently the third-fastest Rally2 crew all day.

It was the perfect way to bookend an incredible debut season with TokSport.

“It was a weekend of learning this car on tarmac and Sunday was very strong,” said McErlean. “This car is exceptional to drive and we are still learning its capabilities. A huge thanks to the team, the gravel crew and James on the notes.”

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Fellow Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy crew, William Creighton, and Liam Regan, in the M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2, finished 16th overall and ninth in the WRC2 and WRC2 Challenger Categories.

A stage four puncture marred an otherwise faultless run but their result was still very commendable given it was their first full season in WRC2 machinery.

The event’s slippery conditions will help Creighton and Regan when they turn their attention to the British Rally Championship deciding Cambrian Rally on Saturday in North Wales.

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The Moira driver has enjoyed a busy season behind the wheel of the M-Sport Fiesta, tackling both WRC2 and the British Rally Championship.

His last BRC outing, saw him also dip his toe into the FIA European Rally Championship at Rali Ceredigion in Wales, which enabled him to claim his first maximum score in the BRC.

That points haul puts him into a titanic tussle for the coveted BRC title at the final round, which returns to gravel straight after Central Europe, at the Cambrian Rally showdown on Saturday.

“It seems to have really flown by and that’s probably because we have been really busy this year with both our WRC and BRC campaigns, but this is a really difficult rally to end our WRC year,” said Creighton.

“It will be good to head straight to the Cambrian after Central Europe and although it’s a vastly different rally and surface, the seat time is important, and I can stay in the right head space. There are a lot of variables to the championship but of course, we will give it our best shot.

Outside of the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy crews tackling the Central European Rally there is plenty of other Irish interest in the penultimate round of the WRC.

Aaron Johnston and his driver Takamoto Katsuta finished in fourth place overall.

The Irish/Japanese pairing put in a powerful display on Sunday, winning two stages including the Wolf Power Stage and were the fastest crew overall over the entire Sunday leg.

Their result helped them to maintain Toyota’s chances of retaining the manufacturers’ title.

“We knew we had to finish and still be fast,” said Johnston. “We ticked all the boxes, we paced ourselves on Friday in tricky conditions, took care on Saturday and we took our second Super Sunday win, so bring on Japan.”

Eamonn Boland was second in the WRC2  Masters Cup, on what is their first WRC outing in a Skoda Fabia Rally2.

At the end of the final day of action, they were one place behind German rally legend Armin Kremer in the Masters Category.

However, as Kremer’s co-driver was not registered for the Masters’ Cup so Morrisey took the maximum points. A finish in Japan next month will secure him a World title!

“We are going to Rally Japan,” confirmed  Morrisey at the finish on Sunday.

Boland added: “It was a very enjoyable event.”

Conor Wilson and Darren Curran had a coming together with a stage-one anti-cut device which meant they were unable to complete the first proper stage on Thursday.

However, the Hyundai i20 R5  crew were able to rejoin under Super Rally rules on Friday morning and completed the rally’s extremely challenging stages without further incident.

“We are only learning the car but what better way to do that than on a four-day rally,” said Wilson.

They were classified 37th at the finish.

Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy member Eamonn Kelly claimed a debut FIA European Historic Rally Championship win in San Remo over the weekend.

Driving the same  BMW E30 M3 that he drove to victory on last month’s Eurol Hellendoorn Rally, the Junior World Rally Championship event winner had the experienced Gordon Noble on the notes.

They took the category lead in the rain-soaked Saturday stages and maintained that overnight advantage through the closing leg of San Remo Rally Storico on Sunday to take victory ahead of fellow BMW M3 crew Maciej Lubiak and Grzegorz Dachowski.

Leading the FIA EHRC runners on the Italian Tarmac event by 5.9s following the five stages that ran on Saturday, Kelly edged 14.5s ahead by winning Sunday’s opening run, the 14.23-kilometre Vignai test and held on to the finish.

Round eight of the 2024 FIA EHRC, the ultimate celebration of rallying’s glorious past, took place in wet and dry conditions and was another action-packed affair with Kelly becoming the sixth different winner of a standout season.  

“Overall, it was a really good race, we were pretty consistent and didn’t make too many mistakes,” said Kelly.

“Saturday was very tricky, we may be made some wrong tyre choices [for the conditions], which cost us a lot of time. But we kept going and today was much better. When we made the right tyre choices our times were good and the flow was really nice. The car was working well also.”

“It was an amazing event, the stages are iconic and when the weather is not too bad it’s really, really nice. Overall, it was a really good challenge.”

“We had no expectations coming here but of course when you come to somewhere as iconic as San Remo and you’re stood in front of the casino on the top step of the podium it’s a pretty cool feeling.”

“I’m very lucky to have been doing it. Thank you to my sponsors, especially JKC BMW in Ireland and Michael Cullen who lent me the car for this rally. Without that offer I wouldn’t have been here so I’m really happy for that.”

Kelly’s father Donagh and co-driver Rory Kennedy finished in sixth place (out of the FIA EHRC registered competitors) and tenth overall in another BMW.

Ray Breen and Damien Morrisey, although not registered for the FIA EHRC,  were ninth overall in their Subaru Legacy.

WRC CEA Rally Credits

Text By Sean Moriarty

Action Photos by M-Sport, TokSport & Red Bull Content Pool

People Photos by Kerry Motorsport News & MIRallyAcademy 

San Remo Rally Credits

Photos By Joe Corcoran and Rally San Remo

Words by Sean Moriarty, additional reporting by Richard Rodgers.