HOME BATTLES BETWEEN M-SPORT CREWS ON RALLY DE PORTUGAL

All four M-Sport crews have completed a challenging weekend at Rally de Portugal, with Josh McErlean / Eoin Treacy and Grégoire Munster / Louis Louka finishing eighth and ninth overall after a close inter-team battle throughout the weekend.

Mārtiņš Sesks / Renars Francis made their first gravel appearance in the Ford Puma Rally1 this season, but endured a very tough outing. An unfortunate puncture three corners into the first stage sadly hampered any chance of success here in Portugal.

Local Portuguese driver Diogo Salvi enjoyed an exciting weekend on the iconic event, making his debut in the Puma Rally1 alongside co-driver Axel Coronado, finishing 32nd overall.

The rally saw the toughest itinerary of the year so far, providing not just a physical challenge, but a logistical one too. The team and crews first travelled from the Porto Service area to Coimbra for Thursday evening’s ceremonial start before moving to Figueira da Foz for the spectator friendly SSS1, tyre-fitting zone and an overnight halt.

Friday began early, with a long road section back inland followed by four tough stages in the morning. Two remote services and a repeat loop of three stages made for a punishing day, with rough conditions, unpredictable grip, and minimal time between stages testing both the crews and their event strategy.

Teammates Grégoire Munster and Josh McErlean spent the weekend locked in a close battle for overall positions. The pair stayed within seconds of each other on stage times throughout, showcasing a healthy team rivalry and pushing one another to find more pace as the weekend progressed.

Friday morning saw the pair on even footing as both Munster and McErlean adapted to the tricky and ever-changing stage conditions. With only small margins between them heading into Friday’s first remote service, McErlean carried a small 2.5 second lead over his teammate.

As the afternoon progressed, Munster gained pace over McErlean and after SS8, before the second halt, he had leapfrogged his teammate into eighth position. Only two stages later, McErlean would set a skillful seventh-fastest time on SS10 and take 7.5 seconds back out of Munster, regaining the lead.

But Munster responded immediately - despite having only soft tyres in his armoury, he set the fifth-fastest time on the final stage of the day to take back eighth overall. After four position changes between them on Friday alone, the day ended with McErlean in ninth, just 4.1 seconds adrift of Munster, with the battle ready to resume on Saturday.

And the battle did continue. Munster struggled for grip on Saturday’s opening stage, dropping nearly 11 seconds to McErlean as the positions switched once again. Munster would struggle to regain the time lost, and continued to sit just behind his teammate in the afternoon’s stage times. McErlean showcased his increasing skill and comfort behind the wheel of the Puma Rally1, as the Motorsport Ireland-backed driver remained ahead throughout the afternoon and by the end of Saturday had extended his advantage over Munster to 29.7 seconds.

Taking their fight into Super Sunday, with another six stages to go, McErlean’s focus was to keep a sensible approach to stay ahead of Munster in the overall standings. Keeping their stage times close, McErlean would gradually increase his lead throughout the day, holding a margin of 44.1 seconds as the crews headed into the famous Fafe Power Stage.

McErlean would finish off a successful weekend with a strong run through the Power Stage, going fastest out of his teammates and posting the eighth fastest time, securing eighth overall with Munster just behind in ninth. Securing positions within the top ten means McErlean will collect four championship points, and Munster finishes with two in ninth overall.

Elsewhere in the team, Mārtiņš Sesks and Renārs Francis faced a challenging return to the gravel-spec Puma Rally1. After going fastest on the pre-event shakedown, hopes were high - but a puncture on Friday’s opening stage cost Sesks over three minutes, disrupting his momentum before he could even get going. He spent the rest of the day settling back into the car, setting consistent times in line with his teammates without taking unnecessary risks.

In the afternoon, Sesks picked up the pace and regained a few positions. A half-spin and a brush with a banking on SS9 dropped the Latvian driver around 30 seconds, but he avoided damage and completed the day safely.

Following setup changes in Friday night’s service, Sesks restarted on Saturday focused on learning and adapting to the Rally1 car ahead of Sardinia. Though still struggling with the feeling in the car, he remained close to his teammates’ pace and continued to push to improve.

Admitting limited familiarity with the stages, Sesks kept a mature and measured approach. By Saturday afternoon, his confidence grew—posting the sixth-fastest time on SS16, ahead of teammates Munster and McErlean. He climbed to 19th overall by the end of the day, well-placed to make further gains on Sunday.

Unfortunately Sesks’s hope of gaining points in the Super Sunday standings were curbed early on, when his rear-left tyre came off the rim during the day’s opening stage. With only one spare in the boot, Sesks would have to take a steady approach to the remaining five stages.

Sesks would deliver a good, clean run through the final Power Stage and after gaining back more time throughout the day was able to finish 15th overall.

The team also welcomed Portuguese driver Diogo Salvi and co-driver Axel Coronado to the team for their debut appearance in the Puma Rally1. Salvi took on the tough challenge of Rally de Portugal in style, increasing the tempo throughout each day and keeping fans entertained with his excitable stage-end interviews.

Despite suffering punctures on both Friday and Saturday, Salvi persisted in the challenging conditions with a smile on his face. Truly showcasing the Portuguese passion for rally, Salvi ended the weekend with glowing reviews of his experience in the Puma Rally1.

Over in the WRC2 camp, Pierre-Louis Loubet and Romet Jürgenson both enjoyed positive weekends in their pair of Fiesta Rally2 cars. Loubet and co-driver Loris Pascaud made a strong return to the team, posting top-ten times in the highly competitive WRC2 category, including an impressive fifth-fastest time on SS5.

The French pairing suffered a puncture in SS13, causing them to lose a bit of time, and suffering some dust inside and outside of the car also slowed them down in places. Despite this, Loubet battled on in the extremely rough conditions and finished 7th in WRC2 after a predominantly clean weekend showing strong pace progression throughout.

Romet Jürgenson and Siim Oja also made excellent progress throughout their debut appearance on Rally de Portugal, delivering another mature drive with minimal mistakes. After suffering the brutal conditions on Saturday and suffering a puncture in SS16, Jürgenson referred to it as the toughest day in his career. Achieving 11th in WRC2 at the end of the weekend, the Estonian pairing gained valuable experience and seat-time in the rough gravel conditions, ahead of Rally Sardinia next month.

Richard Millener, M-Sport Ford Team Principal, said:

“What a hard rally! It was so demanding for not only the drivers, but the team as well. Lots of logistical challenges and long hours and without all this dedication and determination of the team then to have all six cars at the finish just wouldn't be possible. So, thank you to all of them.

“All of the crews across Rally1 and Rally2 have shown good pace over the event, and with each event that passes, the consistency of this pace gets better and better, so we are heading in the right direction as the year progresses.

”A special well done to Josh and Eoin who, for me, have driven superbly this weekend and things look promising as we head into Sardinia.

“Finally, it was fantastic to see Diogo live out his dream to compete on his home event in Rally1 machinery. It was a pleasure to have such a character join the team, however I think he will need a few days rest now!”

Josh McErlean, Eighth overall, said:

“Honestly it's been a really nice weekend and we’ve loved every moment of it. It’s been a crazy rally as always, it’s so nice to come to the finish clean and with some good times as well. A big thanks to all the team, to run four cars with no problems is a great achievement for them. We’ve had a lot of friends and family at home watching, and lots of Irish flags on the stages too which is so nice to see. Now on to Sardinia!”

Grégoire Munster, Ninth overall, said:

“It’s been a really tough event, we got some things right and some things wrong and the result isn't exactly there, but at least we managed to get back the feeling towards the end.

“We had an ok run just then in the power stage, the first two kilometers were ok, but in two ruts we slid wide and we lost a lot of time. But we didn’t give up and we tried to push and gain back some time, I think we had some pace towards the end.”

Mārtiņš Sesks, 15th overall, said:

“It was a challenging week — a good experience for sure. Not everything went as planned, but it never does! It was a valuable learning opportunity for us.

“I would say everything started to go wrong with the puncture. The stage after felt quite strange, so we made some changes to the set-up, but from that point on we struggled with the feeling. We kept having bad luck, but if you take away the lost time, we were close to our teammates — and for our first time in Portugal in a Rally1 car, that’s pretty good. We didn’t expect it to be this tough!”

Pierre-Louis Loubet, 7th in WRC2, 17th overall, said:

“I’m pleased with the result for our first time with the car. We optimised the package, and I think we did the maximum we could. There are some small things to improve on, and we know where we can develop. I’m very happy to be part of the team, and I’m looking forward to the next event — I hope we’ll be even better!”

Romet Jürgenson, 11th in WRC2, 21st overall, said:

“There’s a big contrast between where we were on Friday and where we are now on Sunday. On some stages — for example, Parades — we showed really decent pace, so we can be happy with that. We were on the same level as Pierre on some stages too, so there were definitely big improvements.

“I lacked a bit of confidence and motivation at times, honestly, because some of the stage times were a bit of a shock to us. But at least we’re here, and we’ve gained a lot of valuable experience.”

Diogo Salvi, 32nd overall, said:

“What a party! I enjoyed it. We took it very slowly, but I still had a great time. It’s been a pleasure working with Axel — he’s been very professional, talented, and patient with me throughout the weekend!

“Everyone at M-Sport has been tremendous — the engineers, mechanics, and all the support staff. Everything has been perfect. Thanks also to my family for coming to support me — even my partner, who hates rally! We've had a fantastic time.”

Published 18 May 2025