McErlean began the rally well on Friday, finishing the day in seventh place – leaving, among others, his team-mate Grégoire Munster behind.
Saturday, however, brought a major setback for the Irishman. McErlean also started Saturday strongly, and on the ninth special stage he was only 1.1 seconds slower than Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta, still keeping ahead of Munster.
Then, a heavy impact the car had taken earlier caused an oil leak, and retirement was unavoidable.
“Friday was a good start for us, and I felt like we were building confidence with the stages and the conditions and to be seventh at the end of the day was encouraging. Saturday was frustrating because the pace was there – we were right with the cars around us – but unfortunately our day ended early,” McErlean commented.
“The grip was very inconsistent throughout Sunday, but we still managed to get some positive mileage and good feedback from the car,” McErlean continued.
This season, McErlean has produced a surprisingly strong campaign and has often outperformed his team-mate. The result from Paraguay was disappointing, but the trip was by no means wasted.
” For sure, the end result isn’t what we wanted, but it’s all useful experience and I think we showed some potential,” he reflected.
