World Rally Championship: Josh Mccarlin fourth in Greece as John Armstrong retires

Motorsport Ireland’s Josh Mackerlin finished the race at Rally Greece in fourth place on Friday in a fight for the podium.

It was the strongest day of the season for the M-Sport drivers, who showed impressive pace and stayed out of trouble on the treacherous gravel road as several drivers ran into trouble.

Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville leads the rally by 9.7 seconds ahead of Sébastien Ogier, while Adrien Fourmaux is 27.7 seconds clear of McArlean and co-driver Ioin Treacy in the battle for third.

Open the road, which is inconvenient on the stone, gravel road to clear the way for the car behind the first driver on the stage, championship leader Elfyn Evans is seventh after seven stages.

Compared to Toyota teammates Oliver Solberg and Sami Pazari, who both had problems and were lower down the order, Wales’ Evans and co-driver Scott Martin had a tougher day and will benefit from an improved road position for the rest of the rally.

He finished one place and 35 seconds behind his title rival Takamoto Katsuta and his co-driver, Northern Ireland’s Aaron Johnston.

Despite a strong day for McErlean, there was heartbreak for team-mates John Armstrong and Shane Byrne, who finished third and claimed the first fastest stage time in the WRC before Crews was forced to retire with turbo issues in his Ford Puma.

Northern Ireland’s Armstrong showed flashes of real pace in his debut year but had an unlucky campaign. Two puncture retirements and a mechanical failure on the same stage in the sixth put him out of the hunt for a first WRC podium.

Solberg fell from eighth place in Friday’s final stage when he slid off the road and got stuck on a bank.

If McCarlin can hold on to his position, it will represent his best WRC finish, the current three seventh-place finishes since his first Rally1 season in 2025.

However, with 10 stages remaining between Saturday and Sunday and several front-runners behind him, McErlin will need to continue his strong pace and hope to avoid the misfortune that plagued Armstrong on Friday.

“It’s a pretty good position to be in, it’s been a tough day and we’re staying out of trouble as much as possible,” McErlin said.

“We wanted to get a good road position for tomorrow. We achieved that but tomorrow is a new day.”

Rally Greece (stage after 7/17)

1. Thierry Neuville/Martin Wiedeghe (Hyundai) 1:26:48.2

2. Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota) +9.7s

3. Adrien Fourmaux/Alex Correia (Hyundai) +42.4

4. Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (M-Sport Ford) +1:10.1

5. Martins Sex/Renners Francis (M-Sport Ford) +1:16.9

6. Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota)+1:33.2

7. Elphin Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota)+2:08.4

DNF Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota)

DNF John Armstrong/Shane Byrne (M-Sport Ford)