Opening the road is a much bigger challenge than the Irishman realized
Photography by M-Sport
Words by Luke Barry
Josh McErlean’s 2025 World Rally Championship campaign is fundamentally all about learning lessons.
In retiring his car on just the second stage of Rally Italy Sardinia, he learned the need to temper his excitement after a (potentially deceptively) strong time on the opener.
And thereafter, he learned just how good the likes of Sébastien Ogier are in winning rallies from first on the road.
Clipping the rear of his Ford Puma Rally1 against mother nature and ripping the rear-left corner off was not part of the script for McErlean, but he is at least grateful to have learned those lessons.
Even if he’s sure he paid a big enough punishment for his error!
“Never did I realize opening the road was such a difficult task, especially in this country with the hard base and loose top,” the Irishman told DirtFish.
“It’s quite crazy to think how the likes of Ogier can win rallies like this. So, a lot to take from that there. I don’t think anyone has to do any shouting for the mistake on Friday because the past two days has been the punishment for it!
McErlean made a mistake in Sardinia - but felt road sweeping for 10 stages was a worthy punishment
“And it shows when you go forward into Greece, it’s another rally where cleaning’s a big thing. We need to have a good Friday and hopefully hold a good road position for the rest of the two days. So a lot learned, a lot to take from it, but it’s still disappointing.”
McErlean admitted he was “possibly” pushing too hard in the lead up to his mistake.
“I think the road position can get you times without even pushing,” he acknowledged. “Because on the first stage we weren’t honestly pushing and we were there or thereabouts, so maybe you thought ‘OK if we push a bit more we can get better positions overall’.
“But this type of stage, it was new, it was narrow, it kind of sucked you into a false impression of how much speed you can carry around these corners. They’re quite long and a long corner keeps tightening no matter what you think on recce because it’s gravel, so you’re always sliding and you have to keep that rotation.
“So yeah it’s a shame for M-Sport because three cars [retiring in] one stage is a disaster.”
McErlean cheekily made reference to his road sweeping duties being useful experience for hopefully one day facing that burden because of his championship position.
The M-Sport driver had his eyes opened to just how difficult that task is.
“It’s two different challenges really,” he explained, “because first pass it’s a clean sheet, you can do what you want with the road. One thing I did find interesting was even the lines over the crest jumps where you could see lines before where others have been, you’re creating the line so there is no mark where you approach the crest so your pacenotes have to be really accurate.
“Going forward, actually, I think it’s a big thing to think about because if you don’t get that line right, you’re off the road. Second pass, different tracks, different width of ruts.
“I think there’s a lot to look at from onboards of other rallies where someone else is more experienced cleaning the road of how they do it, how they approach the corner and how they stay neat and basically create their own grip.
First and second pass offer different specific challenges when opening the road
“You have to find these areas to improve because if you don’t find them you’re not going to go forward,” he added. “This is what this year’s all about so we need to keep focusing on that.”
And McErlean is under no illusion about what he needs to work on to avoid the same drama in Greece.
“Hindsight’s a big thing,” he pondered, “[but] as I said, maybe on Friday morning you shouldn’t have stuck your neck out to try to get more time. So maybe a more calm approach if you are in that position in Greece.
“The road is working for you, the cleaning is working for you, so stay cool.”
Words:Luke Barry
Tags: Josh McErlean, M-Sport, Rally Italy Sardinia, Rally Italy Sardinia 2025, WRC, WRC 2025
Publish Date June 11, 2025 DirtFish
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