Jon Armstrong and co-driver Shane Byrne bounced back from an early scare to secure an impressive eighth overall on Rally Sweden – scoring four FIA World Rally Championship points on their second Rally1 start.
As in Monte-Carlo, the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy duo showed promising pace throughout the weekend, finishing just 19.6 seconds behind 2024 World Rally Champion Thierry Neuville.
The Irish pairing’s rally got off to a difficult start when they overshot a junction on stage one, sliding into a ditch. The front of the Ford Puma Rally1 filled with snow, blocking the air intake and causing a loss of power that cost them around 45 seconds.
Despite suffering punctures on Friday, Armstrong demonstrated his growing confidence with the Rally1 car, setting the sixth-fastest time on stage five despite losing intercom communication twice over heavy compressions. The Fermanagh driver went fastest through the opening split of stage seven before a puncture struck his Puma, hampering what could have been an eye-catching stage time.
A mid-Saturday set-up change improved Armstrong’s confidence in the Puma. The adjustment paid immediate dividends as he went on to set a sixth-fastest time on stage 13 and a top-five time on the Umea Sprint, underlining his ability to match established Rally1 competitors.
Armstrong maintained his competitive pace on Sunday with further strong stage times that secured eighth overall, marking a significant step forward in his early Rally1 career.
Jon Armstrong:
“It was a really good rally overall. Obviously, it didn’t start perfectly – on the first stage we missed a braking point and went into a ditch. The front of the car filled with snow, which blocked the air intake, so we lost power and dropped around 45 seconds. That was really frustrating, but we bounced back well and had a strong Friday. We also had a couple of punctures – one we were quite lucky with, as it was close to the end of the stage, but the other we had to drive on for a while, so we lost some time there.
From then on, the focus was on having a good rally and seeing how close we could get to the front-running pace. On some stages, we were really close, down to around 0.4 seconds per kilometre or less. Considering our road position, the cleaning effect, and the fact it’s only our second Rally1 event, there were some very encouraging stage times. I think we have to be happy with the performance.”
Armstrong also described how his feeling with the Ford Puma Rally1 on snow developed throughout the weekend.
“I’ve always enjoyed driving on snow. My main concern coming into the rally was tyre management, especially if gravel was pulled onto the stages with the weather conditions. Thankfully, the conditions weren’t too bad, so tyre wear wasn’t a major issue. That allowed me to focus more on playing with the setup and working on how to pitch the car into the long, fast corners and carry the angle through. The aero on these cars is incredible – on the flat-out sections, it’s just an ultimate buzz. I really felt comfortable in the high-speed sections, which is a good sign for things to come. Where I still feel I can improve is in the narrower sections and slower corners, just being more consistent and precise. But overall, the feeling developed well through the weekend, and we learned a lot.”
Looking ahead, Armstrong believes his Rally Sweden pace provides a strong platform – even with the vastly different challenge of Safari Rally Kenya next.
“The pace is a big positive and gives us confidence going forward. If we keep working hard and building experience, I think we can keep closing the gap to WRC’s frontrunners. The next rally in Kenya is a completely different challenge, though. It’s more about endurance and looking after the car, and I’ve never competed there before, so knowing exactly how hard to push will be tricky. But we’ll approach it in the same way, and I’m sure we’ll figure it out as we go.”/