Aaron Johnston has hailed his second place at Rally Sweden a “brilliant result” after coming agonisingly close to a first win in the World Rally Championship alongside Takamoto Katsuta.
The pair leapfrogged their Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mates – Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin – on the opening Sunday special stage to move into the lead of the Umea-based winter fixture.
However, their supremacy would not last long as, on the next speed test, Evans completed the rerun of ‘Vastervik’ 8.2 seconds faster to turn a 4.5 second deficit into a 3.7 second buffer.
With Toyota famous for never implementing team orders, the two GR Yaris Rally1 crews were allowed to go for broke on the rally ending Power Stage and it was Evans who prevailed, a time one tenth of a second quicker enough to ensure a maximum haul of points from round two.
After initially struggling with the changeable road conditions, an improved set-up enabled the defending champion Thierry Neuville to bank third in his Hyundai Motorsport i20 N Rally1 car.
“It is still a brilliant result here in Sweden,” said Fintona man Johnston, who equalled his career best result in the competition after completing Safari Rally Kenya last year as runner-up.
“We really enjoyed the whole weekend, and being part of such a big fight with Elfyn and Scott was fantastic for us and the team. Of course, it would have been nice to take the victory here, but we are still very happy to come home behind them in second,” continue the Fintona man.
Fellow Irishman Josh McErlean, on his second top-flight drive for M-Sport Ford, fell victim to the event’s infamous snowbanks on Sunday’s opening stage as 9.25-miles into the ‘Vastervik’ test, he strayed a few inches away from the racing line and lost the rear of his Puma Rally1.
With help from nearby spectators, McErlean and navigator Eoin Treacy managed to free the car using a combination of their hands and a shovel and get going again, but were served with a two-minute time penalty for checking in at the regroup 12 minutes late.
It was a frustrating end to what had been an otherwise strong performance by the pair, who were sitting as high as eighth at one point only to conclude the round two of the World Rally Championship down in 21st position.
Despite getting the full Rally Sweden experience, the 25-year-old believes his times – which were on a par on occasions with WRC2 champion Sami Pajari and Latvian hotshot Martins Sesks – proves his development is moving in the correct direction.
“The weekend as a whole has been quite positive from my side – we have shown good speed. I honestly did not expect to be so close to Sami and Martins,” he said.