This year’s Safari Rally offered extremely gruelling conditions, and McErlean faced numerous challenges throughout the weekend.
Midway through Friday, McErlean even held fifth place, but then the problems began. A hole had formed above the exhaust pipe in the Irishman’s car, causing smoke to enter the cockpit. McErlean and his co-driver Eoin Treacy stopped to check the situation in case of a potential fire, losing a lot of valuable time as a result.
On Saturday, McErlean’s troubles continued in wet and muddy conditions. A mechanical failure occurred in the Irishman’s car halfway through stage 11, costing the pair nearly half an hour.
In the end, however, McErlean managed to bring the car home and finished tenth overall. Considering all the issues, the result can be regarded as at least reasonable.
“It’s been quite crazy, quite surreal,” McErlean summed up his weekend.
“Honestly, it’s really nice to get to the finish. Okay, we had our problems but we persevered and made it through,” McErlean added.
McErlean had not previously competed in the top category in Kenya, but he knew exactly what to expect.
“You have to come to Safari Rally and expect these conditions, it’s part of what it’s about. Not only that but the people and everyone involved, from the organisers to the teams, it’s a huge effort to come out here and put on a show as a non-European event. It’s such a huge spectacle so congratulations to everyone for making it happen,” McErlean praised.
For McErlean’s team-mate Grégoire Munster, the weekend was a tough one both mentally and physically. His grandfather passed away during the shakedown. Despite the emotional toll, Munster honoured his grandfather’s memory and went on to finish fifth after Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta retired on the final stage.
But Munster’s weekend was also filled with many difficulties – punctures, engine overheating, and a gearbox failure on Sunday were all part of Munster’s rally in Kenya.
“I wanted to do well for my grandfather this weekend. It didn’t start too well on Friday, we encountered so many issues between brakes, engine overheating, the steering arm, punctures and of course the gearbox on Sunday too,” Munster recounted.
“But we never gave up and that was the only thing I wanted to do, to finish the rally, and apparently with ‘Taka’ [Katsuta] retiring we will be in the top five so we’ve come a really long way this weekend. We wanted to start the season how we ended last year, and I’m really happy we managed to secure that top five finish in Kenya,” Munster continued.
