Ogier leads Toyota lockout as McErlean leads Irish charge

McErlean sits ninth while M-Sport teammate Jon Armstrong is 11th

Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) lead the Irish challenge in ninth place in Rally Islas Canarias, round five of the World Rally Championship. Pic: Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool.

The returning Sebastien Ogier (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) headed the Toyota dominance of Friday's action in Rally Islas Canarias, round five of the World Rally Championship where the M-Sport Ford Irish crews of Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy and Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne are ninth and eleventh respectively, the former with a 29.5s advantage.

Ogier, on his first appearance since Safari Rally Kenya (Round 2), holds a 7.9s lead over teammate Oliver Solberg with Sami Pajari reclaiming third on the night's Super Special.

On the morning's opening loop where the middle stage (SS3) was cancelled for safety reasons, Ogier set the pace and led a Toyota top five lockout of the leaderboard. Ogier was best on SS2 and SS4 opening up a 5.9s advantage over team-mate Pajari with Evans just 0.1s further behind. Solberg followed with Thursday night leader Takamoto Katsuta completing the Toyota quintet.

All the drivers reported understeer issues, particularly Hyundai's Thierry Neuville, who admitted to losing confidence on the latter section of SS5 - trailing teammate and returnee Dani Sordo - the top Hyundai driver - by 7.9s with Adrien Fourmaux sandwiched between the pair.

Josh McErlean, who set the fifth fastest time on Thursday night's opening stage, led the M-Sport challenge in ninth, teammate Jon Armstrong was two places and 16.8s behind in 11th spot and fortunate to escape only a time loss on SS4 when he slid sideways down a slip road.

Solberg posted his first stage win on SS5 albeit by 0.1s from Ogier, who won the remaining stages out in the country where his teammates jostled for the chasing positions. Solberg's stage win elevated him to second; Pajari was edged out of third by Evans. Meanwhile, Sordo continued to lead the Hyundai challenge - even though he clipped an Armco barrier on SS7.

McErlean was consistent and patient and finished SS7 - 11.7s ahead of Armstrong, the Kilrea driver remarked, "I think, where you know where the note is, you have to be a bit more patient, it's been okay but we're still learning." 

Armstrong said, "I don't really know what happened (on SS7). I had a pretty decent stage, but just probably a kilometre from the end I just ran wide, the braking grip wasn't quite there and I clipped the Armco." 

Prior to the night's Super Special (1.89km) in the Las Palmas stadium Armstrong broke part of the rear transmission in the tyre warm-up and had only front wheel drive and lost a place.

Rally Islas Canarias (Round 5, World Rally Championship) Gran Canaria 

1.S. Ogier/V. Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 54m. 27.5s. 2. O. Solberg/E. Edmondson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)+8.9s; 3. S. Pajari/M. Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)+15.9s; 4. E. Evans/S. Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)+16.4s; 5. T. Katsuta/A. Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)+29.7s; 6. D. Sordo/C. Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1)+52.0s; 7. A. Fourmaux/A. Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1)+54.8s; 8. T. Neuville/M Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1)+1m. 03.6s; 9. J. McErlean/E. Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1)+1m. 41.1s; 10. Y. Rosssel/A. Dunand (Lancia Ypsilon Rally2)+1m. 59.5s; 11. J. Armstrong/S. Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1)+2m. 10.6s