Motorsport Ireland's Josh McErlean concluded Friday's running at Rally Greece in an impressive fourth place, marking his strongest performance of the season. The M-Sport Ford driver demonstrated notable speed and navigated the challenging gravel roads without incident, as many competitors faced difficulties.

Leading the rally is Thierry Neuville from Hyundai, who holds a 9.7-second advantage over Sebastien Ogier. Adrien Fourmaux sits 27.7 seconds ahead of McErlean in the fight for third place.

Elfyn Evans, the championship leader, currently ranks seventh after seven stages, opening the road under challenging conditions. Despite this, both he and co-driver Scott Martin have maintained a solid performance, benefiting from a better road position as the rally progresses. Evans trails Takamoto Katsuta and co-driver Aaron Johnston by one spot and 35 seconds.

In a disappointing turn, McErlean's teammate, Jon Armstrong, along with co-driver Shane Byrne, had to retire while in third place after suffering a turbo issue on their Ford Puma. Armstrong, in his debut WRC season, has shown potential but has faced a series of unfortunate events, including two punctures and mechanical failures.

Oliver Solberg also faced challenges, crashing out of eighth place on the last stage of Friday.

If McErlean can maintain his fourth position, it would mark his best WRC finish, surpassing his previous three seventh-place results from the 2025 Rally1 season. However, with 10 stages still to come over the weekend, he must sustain his strong pace and avoid the misfortunes that plagued Armstrong.

It's quite a nice position to be in, it was a solid day and we stayed out of trouble as much as possible,

Rally Greece (after stage 7/17):

1. Thierry Neuville/Martin Wydaeghe (Hyundai) 1:26:48.2
2. Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota) +9.7 seconds
3. Adrien Fourmaux/Alex Coria (Hyundai) +42.4
4. Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (M-Sport Ford) +1:10.1
5. Martins Sesks/Renars Francis (M-Sport Ford) +1:16.9
6. Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota) +1:33.2
7. Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota) +2:08.4 DNF Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmundson (Toyota)