Jon Armstrong and Brian Hoy returned to the top of Junior World Rally Championship despite a fraught fourth-place finish at Rally Portugal.

The Fermanagh pair opened up an early lead over the rough gravel stages around Porto, but on an event that witnessed crews throughout the field suffering problems, Jon was no exception.

He saw his early lead wiped out by a mechanical failure that ended his chances of overall victory, but he recovered to post a succession of fastest stage times and edge into a one-point lead in the series with two rounds remaining.

Jon started the event hoping to reclaim the championship lead after slipping to second spot following the previous round in Croatia, and although he did not produce the dominant performance he was hoping for in Portugal, he did enough to remain in contention for the title.

“There is no doubt I could have a much larger lead at this point if Croatia and Portugal had gone better, but to have two bad events and still be in the lead isn’t bad going,” he reflected.

“If you are able to have lot of problems and still lead the championship, then that must be good!”

On gravel stages that were becoming increasingly rough with each pass, most of the JWRC field encountered problems on Day One.

Joona and Pajari both suffered punctures and dropped behind Jon, who had adopted a careful approach that seemed to be paying off as he opened up a lead of over one minute after six stages, despite recording only one fastest stage time.

“It was working because we were the only ones that had no issues after the morning loop ,” he said.

“Everyone else had a puncture or something else, so it was working for us, but then the car developed an issue with the suspension and eventually it deteriorated and then it sheared the control arm.

“There wasn’t too much we could do about it. It was just getting too much wear and tear and too much stress. You are going over some rough sections and it is very punishing on the car, and for whatever reason it decided to shear, which wasn’t ideal.”

That problem forced Jon out of the event for the remainder of Day One and all but wiped out his chances of overall victory, but with the JWRC awarding one championship point for every fastest stage time, there were still a lot of points at stake when he re-joined the event on Day Two.

“On paper we needed stage wins, but I wasn’t sure if that was going to be possible,” he admitted.

“It’s a hard balance to go fast on those stages and also look after the car, but thankfully on Saturday some of the stages were less rough and a bit more compacted sand, so it was easier to push.

“We had good pace and probably could have won every stage, but we got a puncture both times on the 37 kilometre stage, which was frustrating.

“It was good to win so many stages on Saturday and Sunday and get those eight championship points, which are crucial. If it wasn’t for winning so many stages, we wouldn’t be leading the championship.”

Jon’s strong finish lifted him to fourth overall and he now holds a slender lead over Joona, with last season’s champion, Pajari, just 11 points back.

Next up for the crews is Rally Estonia in July, and Jon is looking to stay in title contention ahead of the title decider in Greece in September.

“I was quite fast in Estonia last year but I am up against drivers from Scandinavia and Estonia and they know what to do on those stages, so you don’t really know what way it will play out,” he said.

“I hope to get some points there and stay out of trouble, and maybe get some stage win points.

“If I am within touch going into Greece, then it should be okay. It is going to be whoever has the most luck in Greece. It’s double points and that makes a big difference.”

Final Rally Portugal Junior WRC results:

1 Pajari 4:13:33.2s

2 Joona +4:30.2s

3 Virves +23:37.7

4 ARMSTRONG/HOY +30:51.5

5 Kimathi +1:56:38.9

Junior WRC after Round 3 of 5:

1 ARMSTRONG/HOY – 67 points

2 Joona – 66 pts

3 Pajari – 56

4 Virves – 49

5 Creighton – 28