First-ever fastest stage time in ERC for Fermanagh driver

Armstrong came into the rally having failed to score points on three of the last four events, but he got his year back on track on the United Kingdom’s only round of the European series despite an early setback.

Armstrong hopes of a podium finish were effectively ended by a puncture on the fifth stage of the event, but he set a string of top five stage times over the remaining tests to haul himself from fourteenth to fifth overall, before deliberately incurring a late time penalty ahead of the finish ramp to boost his teammate’s chances of success in the British Rally Championship.

“We were on a good pace and without that puncture I think we would have been second overall,” said Armstrong.

“We had a good pace right from the get-go. It was important for us because it hasn’t been a strong year, especially the last few rallies, so it has been good to show that we have genuine pace to fight, and we can build from here now and try to have a good rally in in the last event in Poland. It will be difficult to say what it will be like but hopefully with the form and rhythm we have we can bring the confidence into that rally.”

Jon Armstrong (right) celebrates his first ever fastest stage with co-pilot, Eoin Treacy. (Image: Atworld)

It was immediately obvious that Armstrong would be one of the pacesetters in Wales when he set the quickest time in free practice, and he backed that up with fourth fastest time in qualifying, securing him a good road position close to the front of the pack.

After two opening short spectator stages the action started in earnest, and Armstrong survived a spin to sit in fourth overall before he plummeted down the leaderboard with a puncture on stage five.

“We got a puncture from a sharp stone on the inside of a corner, but it wasn’t a particularly big cut or anything. We were a bit unlucky with that. We drove to the end on the puncture and dropped about a minute or so,” he explained.

“In the afternoon we reset and we were second fastest on all the proper stages in the afternoon to Haydon (Paddon), who was on a bit of a different level to everyone all weekend. He seemed to be getting time where no one else could.”

Armstrong continued his surge through the field on Sunday, setting his first-ever fastest stage time in the ERC on the way.

“We have been trying for that stage win for most of the year,” he admitted.

“They are not so easy to get. We were probably the fastest crew apart from Haydon. He was winning so many stages we had to play second fiddle to him, but it was nice to get that one stage win and tick that off the list. It is something that you are trying to achieve, so it was good to get it.”

Eoin Treacy and Jon Armstrong. (Image: Atworld)

In addition to the European series regulars there was also a strong field of drivers contesting the British Rally Championship section of the event, and Armstrong was delighted that his trouble free Sunday performance put him ahead of all of them.

“That was always going to be a big focus for us on this rally,” he said.

“On every other rally the locals are always out at the front, but this was a tricky rally and no one had too much knowledge because there were a lot of new stages, so that meant there were no local standouts. It was nice we could prove our pace against the likes of Callum (Devine), Keith (Cronin), Matt (Edwards) and even Chris Ingram to name a few.”

Armstrong was also ahead of teammate William Creighton over the Sunday stages, but with his M-Sport and Motorsport Ireland colleague needing points for the British Rally Championship challenge, Armstrong took a 20-second time penalty at the final control to allow Creighton ahead of him on Sunday’s times.

“The day before, William went off and had two punctures so didn’t score very well, but on Sunday Ingram went off and got no points so we had team orders to swap with William on the final control so he could get maximum points for the British championship,” Jon explained.

“That meant we dropped from fifth to sixth but that is just part of the situation. We are not in a position to win the European Championship any more so it made sense for M Sport and the MI Rally Academy to make that call, and obviously we are happy to help out William whenever we can to give him the best chance in his final round of the BRC and try to win.”

Armstrong’s strong showing in Wales lifted him to joint fifth in the ERC standings, with the final round in Poland due to take place from October 11-13.