Josh McErlean is being happy with the result he achieved at Acropolis Rally last weekend considering how rough this event is while he is referring to the mistake he made on the penultimate stage of the rally.
McErlean managed to set some good times in the stages of Acropolis Rally as his pace was inside the top five on Friday stages while he lost some seconds in Stage 4 due to a tyre delamination just five kilometers before the end of SS4. In fact, he was fighting for the fourth place with Adrien Fourmaux on Friday afternoon as the Irishman was just 5,2 seconds behind Fourmaux after SS5. On Saturday, McErlean stayed out of trouble and remained in fifth position overall while he was just four seconds ahead of the sixth Elfyn Evans after SS12. At the end of Stage 15, McErlean gained one place and climbed into fourth overall taking advantage over Evans's and Fourmaux's punctures in Stage 14 and 15 respectively. The only mistake he made was at Stage 16 where he outbraked down a hill and went off road resuling in losing some seconds as his Puma was stuck in the sand. However, he managed to keep his position on the classification, but his best-ever WRC result was under threat by Sami Pajari who was 14,1 seconds behind McErlean after SS16. Eventually, McErlean completed Acropolis Rally at the fourth place which was his best-ever result in World Rally Championship and was the highest-placed driver of M-Sport Ford, but the stewards decided to give to McErlean and Eoin Treacy a one-minute time penalty after the end of Acropolis Rally resulting in slipping behind Pajari and Evans and finishing sixth overall.
"It's been really important, I think, to get a result like this - for me and Eoin, and for the team", McErlean said after the end of Acropolis Rally.
"It's been a while since everyone's had a result, and it was obviously a very challenging weekend with the rocks, the puncture risk and everything that comes with that.
"We made it a little difficult for ourselves going into the last stage, sliding into the ditch on the previous one, then having to push to protect the position for the final stage.
"But we're very happy; it's the best result we've had so far."
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