McErlean and Creighton ready for Central European Rally

Two Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy drivers will contest the penultimate round of the FIA World Rally Championship at this weekend’s Central European Rally.

Josh McErlean and William Creighton are ready for this unique event which offers a variety of asphalt conditions in Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic.

With the second edition of the Central European Rally after its debut in 2023, the two Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy crews prepare to traverse the borders of three countries in this spectacular rally challenge, covering a total distance of over 1,500 kilometres.

The action kicks off once again at Prague Castle with Thursday’s ceremonial start. Crews then take on two stages later that afternoon before the remote parc fermé near Klatovy, Czech Republic.

Another full day of remote servicing will take place on Friday, based mostly in the Czech Republic before the crews and teams make their way back to the rally’s main base in Bad Griesbach, Germany. Completing just under 600 kilometres on Friday alone, crews will need to balance speed and endurance to ensure the cars return to Germany on Friday night where the team mechanics can undertake their first proper work of the event.

Josh McErlean and James Fulton will tackle their seventh WRC event this season in their TokSport Skoda Fabia RS Rally2. This will be their first tarmac WRC rally of the year, but they can count on their 2023 event experience after competing in the event last year in a PCRS Rallysport Hyundai i20 Rally2. “It has been a long time since we did a WRC rally on tarmac and that was CER last year which is a full year,” he said. “We had a good test with the Skoda Motorsport during the week in Poland and covered lots of kilometres and tried lots of setup changes. It’s going to be another big challenge, but we’ve got some experience from last year. The stages aren’t so similar but are in the same regions.”

One new addition to McErlean’s preparations for the rally includes a gravel crew. Gravel crews are only allowed on asphalt events and McErlean and Fulton have employed leading Irish national driver Desi Henry and Motorsport Ireland Academy co-driver Shane Byrnes.

“It is going to be a big week with a gravel crew involved as well. I’ve got a good relationship with Desi, he is my cousin and we know how each other works,” he added. “We want to push and finish the year with a good result. This is the final point-scoring chance for us in WRC2. It has been a good year, a good step forward in pace, especially on gravel and we want to improve our tarmac pace too.”

Also returning for their final foray in the WRC2 category this season are William Creighton and Liam Regan. The Motorsport Ireland-backed pairing will round off a strong season of development in the Ford Fiesta Rally2. Benefitting from recent Tarmac seat time in the British Rally Championship, Creighton and Regan will look to successfully navigate the challenge next week in Central Europe.

“We are looking forward to the Central European Rally, a new rally for me relatively new to the WRC calendar and actually quite different to last year’s rally so 90% of the stages are going to be new for everyone which is which is quite nice,” said Creighton. “It’s going to be a tricky rally. I think even if the weather is good, which it was last week leading up to the rally, even a little bit of rain will make it very dirty. But we’ve had a lot of that this season between Croatia and Rali Ceredigion so I feel like we’ve got good experience. It’s a rally that should suit the Fiesta quite well. We would like to finish with a strong rally and that’s what we’ll be aiming for. We look forward to returning to the WRC after a little break.”

Other Irish interest in the penultimate round of the WRC includes co-driver Aaron Johnston who is alongside Takamoto Katsuta in their Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid.

Eamonn Boland and Mickey Joe Morrisey will drive a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 in a WRC event for the first time. Having used a Ford Fiesta Rally2 in Monte Carlo and Croatia earlier this season the Wexford/Waterford pairing debuted the Skoda on Rally 1000 Miglia in Italy last month.

Conor Wilson returns to the rally in a Hyundai i20 with Darren Curran on the notes. Wilson contested the event last year on a Ford Fiesta Rally4.