Josh McErlean heads into Rally Chile looking to build on an inspiring finish at Rally del Paraguay

Josh McErlean heads into the second half of the FIA World Rally Championship’s South American double-header with confidence high as Rally Chile [10–13 September] provides another opportunity to continue his progress in Rally1 machinery.

Fresh from equalling his career-best Rally1 result with sixth overall on the exceptionally demanding Rally del Paraguay, the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team driver and co-driver Eoin Treacy will tackle another challenging gravel event at the wheel of their Ford Puma Rally1.

Paraguay proved to be a major confidence boost for McErlean, who produced some of the strongest performances of his Rally1 career to date. The Irishman stunned the field on Friday by climbing as high as second overall, setting a series of front-running stage times and genuinely challenging for the rally lead.

Despite a puncture, tyre delamination, difficult conditions and a broken gear lever on Sunday, McErlean and Treacy refused to give up and brought the Puma home in sixth, matching their result from Acropolis Rally Greece earlier this season.

Now, with little time between the two South American events, McErlean is determined to use everything he learned in Paraguay as he takes on a very different challenge in Chile.

Rally Chile’s gravel stages have their own distinctive character. Fast and flowing in places, they can also become incredibly narrow, with dense forest plantations and rugged hillsides. With weather conditions capable of changing the character of the stages dramatically, crews must also be prepared for rain, mist and morning fog. Limited visibility through the tree-lined roads can make the Chilean stages particularly demanding.

For McErlean, having only contested the event once before, the challenge will be to combine his limited experience of the stages with the confidence gained from his performance in Paraguay.

Having demonstrated that he has the outright speed to run with the leading Rally1 crews, the focus now is on turning that pace into consistent results and continuing the upward trajectory of his second season at the top level of the WRC.

With the confidence of his strongest-ever Friday performance still fresh in his mind, the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver arrives in Chile determined to make the most of that momentum.

“I’m really looking forward to Chile and going straight into another rally after Paraguay,” said McErlean.

“Paraguay gave us a huge amount of confidence. To be fighting for the lead and running second overall was something really special, and it showed us that we have the pace to fight at the front when everything comes together.

“Obviously, we had a few things happen during the rally which made it a tough weekend, but we kept fighting and got the result we deserved. There’s a lot that I can take from that experience into Chile, and it’s a rally I really enjoy. There are some changes to the stages from last year, so a good recce is very important and should level the playing field”.

“The team has been working really hard in the tight turnaround between events, so hopefully we can repay all that effort with another strong result this weekend.

McErlean is backed by Woodland NI, Admore Air Conditioning, M.P Burke Transport, SDC Trailers, EC Framing, Tulach Properties, Carbon Fusion, Fastener Connections and McCormack Contracting Inc.