You can’t move the crew, you can’t move key mechanical components, so what can you do when looking to improve the weight distribution of your Rally1 car?
From this week’s Croaita Rally, M-Sport Ford has made a key change to the positioning of the spare wheels – moving the second one further back into the car instead of on top of the first.
“We’ve done some changes with the rear geometry and the rear tire position,” explained team principal Richard Millener. “The spare wheel position is different, so the second spare wheel now is further back in the car to try and help with some of the problems we saw.”
Those problems have affected the team since the top of 2025, when the hybrid units were removed from all three Rally1 cars as per the regulations.
The Ford Puma which won three rounds of the championship between 2022-23, courtesy of Sébastien Loeb and Ott Tänak, may appear the same as the current car from the outside, but the lack of hybrid gives it less power and crucially different driving characteristics.
The Ford Puma Rally1 was designed to carry a hybrid unit, so achieving the perfect weight balance since it was removed is a challenge
The current, hybrid-less car was fundamentally designed with that extra weight in mind.
Millener added: “The wheel was originally stacked on top of the other one so now it’s at the back to try and get the weight movement because this car was designed for the hybrid system which no longer exists. So our fundamental DNA is not really optimal but you can’t change a lot.
“You can’t move the people, you can’t move the engine, you can’t move a great deal. What can you move that weighs some weight? Spare wheels. You know, two wheels is 50kg. So we’ve done what we can to optimize that, which seems to be helping, and the data we saw on the test confirms that.
“But I do think that this weekend is going to be tricky. Road position and the gravel and the pollution, especially tomorrow [Friday], is probably going to give us quite a challenge. But I think that maybe the first two cars maybe will be OK, and then it’s going to quickly deteriorate and maybe the group from four or five onwards… it’s maybe going to be less progressive each car that goes through, but it will be a big step away from the front.
“So we’ve just got to see. But with more cutting there’s more puncture risk, so we’ve got to be careful on that side of things as well.”
Drivers Josh McErlean and Jon Armstrong are also hoping to benefit from a new differential settings this week.
McErlean told DirtFish: “It’s something that we could have always done, but we didn’t ever try it. So yeah, it’s nice to try these things.
“I think the balance front and rear is quite different, it’s basically a more aggressive rear but it actually makes it more progressive so it’s one of those things to try and understand. But then obviously the front lift is quite different.”
Armstrong advised not to ‘overprove’ himself
McErlean’s team-mate arrives in Croatia as the defending winner, having taken top spot back in October when the event was part of the European Rally Championship.
After a strong start to the year, and with that pedigree, the temptation is to expect the 31-year-old to achieve something special.
But both Millener, and Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy patron John Coyne, have told Armstrong not to try too hard.
Armstrong won Croatia in 2025, but none of those stages are used this year - and it was ERC, not WRC
“We’ve had three specialist events,” said Millener. “We’re now going into the part of the season where the others crank the pace up even more. I think it’s going to be a big step away from the front – they know the events very well and Jon’s yet to have one of the difficult WRC learning experiences which will come.
“Whagt we’re looking for is the same level and slight slow progression over the course of the year, but we’ve already, both myself and John Coyne, said to him” ‘Don’t try to overprove yourself here. Yes you won here last year but it’s a very different set of circumstances: don’t upset the rhythm that you’ve found so far’.
“But you know Jon’s a clever guy – like we’ve talked about he’s a bit older, he’s able to judge what he needs to do and where he’s at and yeah, we’ve got to see. We’re not going to get in the way and tell him what he can and can’t do – he needs to find that limit himself, but just give a bit of advice.”
Armstrong admitted being a previous winner “gives you something in terms of mentality” but none of the stages he tackled in a Fiesta Rally2 in 2025 return for 2026 “so it’s a completely new event for us essentially”.
Armstrong continued: “There’s some traditional, how we know it, Croatia stages with the white Tarmac and the big cuts and the pollution. But this year we have the stages closer to the coast that are a bit more like Catalunya, Rome style. So that’s making it quite difficult to have the right approach in terms of having the right setup changes as you go along.
“And the right tire package is going to be quite difficult [to choose]. From that side it’s not so easy to imagine, just like a full event of being flat out or building up. Some stages might work well, some stages you might struggle a bit more. If we can be quite close in the stages that would suit me, like the dirty ones or the cuts and see where we are then.
“Maybe the more smooth ones which wouldn’t be maybe the strongest for me but I’m trying to get better. But also I think it’s well understood that the Hankook is hard to understand with those types of stages as well. There’s a learning phase for me right now and I’m trying to do that as quick as I can.”
