EverGreens! How the Irish fared at Rally Finland 2024
Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy members Josh McErlean and James Fulton recorded their best result since Rally Portugal by finishing 12th overall and fifth in the WRC2 challenger category in Finland over the weekend.
Their performance was all the more impressive given that all four drivers in front of them are from either Finnish (Lauri Joona in first [Škoda Fabia RS Rally2]; [Mikko Heikkilä in second [Toyota GR Yaris Rally2]; Roope Korhonen in fourth [Toyota GR Yaris Rally2]) or Estonian (Georg Linnamäe in third [Toyota GR Yaris Rally2]) and are more at home on the high-speed Finnish roads.
Only one other non-Finnish or Estonian driver finished in the top ten in the WRC2 Challenger class – Czech driver Martin Prokop finished in ninth place.
“Great to finish such a demanding event with no mistakes and a positive outcome after a rollercoaster of a weekend,” said the TokSport driver at the finish.
“Iconic stages and challenging conditions tested us but we knuckled down and we can now enjoy this good result.
“Huge thank you to the team for all their hard work and thank you for all our supporters’ efforts too, you have been amazing.”
William Creighton and Liam Regan were forced to retire their M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2 on Friday but returned to action on Saturday.
They endured torrential rain and had to stop and change a puncture during a challenging second full day of action.
They ended the rally in 16th place in the WRC2 Challenger category. Their focus will now switch to next Saturday’s Grampian Rally, the fourth round of the British Rally Championship, in an effort to extend their overall lead in that series.
“This legendary event was everything we had expected and more besides, with an already challenging event made tougher still with the weather. Such amazing roads to compete on and we are really pleased to finally get to sample the stages that have been in the history books for years,” said Creighton at the finish.
“Another weekend of learning and building experience – but no time to rest as we prepare for our next British Rally Championship outing next weekend!”
Junior WRC
A puncture on stage 15 of Rally Finland ended the dreams of a podium finish for the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy crew of Eamonn Kelly and Conor Mohan in Rally Finland.
The Irish crew had worked their way up from ninth to second in the Junior WRC class on Saturday afternoon after a difficult Friday.
Kelly was hoping to bounce back from various issues which have plagued his year so far, including a retirement in Croatia and a non-score in Sardinia.
While his eventual sixth place in the class was his best result since his third place in Sweden in February, he still left Finland disappointed as his pace was good enough for second in the category.
Ahead of stage 15, the 20.19 km Päijälä 2 test, the Irish crew were just 8.5 seconds shy of class then leader Petr Borodin.
This was after a remarkable recovery drive on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.
The Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy crew had endured a challenging Friday.
Cancelled stages did not help their cause and one uninterrupted stage they contested was hit by a very heavy rain shower that their rivals managed to avoid. They found themselves languishing in ninth position after five stages.
A string of top three times throughout the second loop of four stages put them right back in contention and they ended Friday in fourth place – just 33.2 seconds behind leader Petr Borodin.
They started Saturday in flying form and by the midday service halt and after 13 stages they had worked their way up to second place in the Junior category and had closed the gap to Borodin to just 8.5 seconds.
But the stage 15 puncture cost them nearly three minutes and dropped them from second to seventh in the class standings.
In a cruel twist of fate, Borodin also hit trouble on the same test which resulted in Australian Taylor Gill taking the class lead – he was in third place ahead of stage 15.
As a show of what might have been – and despite brake issues – Kelly set the third fastest time on a very wet Ouninpohja 2 to end the day in sixth place in the class.
He continued this form throughout Sunday’s final loop of four stages including setting a brace of top-three class times to maintain that sixth in the class.
“After yesterday’s puncture it’s hard to push fully but we are in a steady rhythm and we were still third fastest,” said Kelly after 17 of the event’s 20 tests.
“What could have been!”
They eventually finished just over two minutes behind category winner Taylor proving that a decent podium and even a class win were on the cards.
OTHER IRISH INTEREST IN FINLAND
Takamoto Katsuta and Irish co-driver Aaron Johnston were running in fourth place overall until SS5 when an impact with a tree damaged the right-rear corner of their car.
They completed the stage and tried to reach mid-day service but unfortunately had to retire from the day on the road section. The team could later repair the damage. the crew returned on Saturday under SuperRally rules.
A win on the Wolf PowerStage was a highlight for the Toyota Gazzo Racing crew.
“Delighted to claim maximum points from the final stage of what has been a tough weekend and to come home in the top two on Super Sunday,” said Johnston.
“After Friday’s disappointing end, it was important for us to bounce back over the final two days of this amazing event and we’re pleased to have done that.”
Irish rally team PCRS Rallysport’s up-and-coming Turkish driver Kerem Kazaz finished an impressive 10th place in WRC3 on his Rally Finland debut.
Kazaz is best known for his exploits in the FIA European Rally Championship where he is a frontrunner in the ERC3 class in a Ford Fiesta Rally3.
The 18-year-old made his World Rally Championship debut in Latvia last month.
PHOTOS BY CONOR O’NEILL AND THE RED BULL CONTENT POOL
