The two Irish rally stars William Creighton and Josh McErlean have confirmed they will take part in the 2023 FIA World Rally Championship season-opener in Rallye Monte-Carlo in the WRC2 class, driving in a pair of Hyundai i20 N Rally2 fielded by PCRS Rallysport.
The duo will continue to have joint support from Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy and the rally will also mark their debuts on the asphalt fixture. Creighton is stepping up this year after two seasons in the FIA Junior World Rally Championship where he scored two podiums last season in Sweden and Greece. He has some sort of four-wheel-drive experience as the series used the one-make Ford Fiesta Rally3 for 2022 and he also received the chance to drive in the WRC2 class in Spain for the team.
McErlean on the other hand has way more experience in the WRC2 class, for the 2023 season the 23-year-old will team up with John Rowan as his new co-driver when the former co-driver James Fulton went to partner up with Craig Breen at the end of last year.
“I really didn’t think anything could top my WRC Spain drive in the Hyundai, to have the opportunity to be heading to the most famous rally in the world behind the wheel of a Rally2 car is the stuff dreams are made of.” Creighton said.
“Starting Rallye Monte-Carlo from the legendary Casino Square in Monaco is realising a childhood dream, it will be a huge milestone in my career and for the Academy project and I am incredibly grateful and proud to be part of it.” McErlean added.
“It’s such a different prospect to anything I’ve done before and with such jeopardy in terms of stage conditions and weather, there is a huge amount of preparation that needs to be done ahead of the event to enable us to cope with that when it comes.”
