Josh McErlean, from Northern Ireland, finished a solid seventh on his debut in the top tier of the WRC in his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally 1.
It was an incident-free weekend from McErlean, 25, and navigator Eoin Treacy, whose pace improved throughout the weekend on one of the WRC’s most difficult rallies.
Sunday’s morning final three stages claimed three casualties as the Toyota pair of Sami Pajari and Takamoto Katsuta, and McErlean’s M-Sport team-mate Gregoire Munster, all crashed out.
This helped him to promote up the field and take home valuable points for Malcom Wilson’s team. The second round of the WRC season takes place on the snow-covered roads in Sweden from 13-16 February.
