Jon Armstrong claimed his first World Rally Championship stage win on SS5 of Acropolis Rally Greece.
Armstrong made his Rally1 debut with M-Sport at the start of 2026, and immediately impressed with strong pace in the opening rounds of the season.
He came within one tenth of a maiden stage win in Croatia but, making the most of his eighth-place starting position on Friday, got the job done in Greece.
He and co-driver Shane Byrne set the pace on the first stage after remote service, Elikan Mt, by 0.6 seconds ahead of world champion Sébastien Ogier, with rally leader Thierry Neuville 2.3s adrift.
“It wasn’t a great run to be fair,” Armstrong said. “I felt like I was being a bit too careful just trying to really focus on clean lines and we had a small impact at the start, just a corner with a rock on the inside, so I was a bit scared after that – and also we knew if Sami [Pajari] had a puncture.
“But a first stage win is nice!”
Team-mate Josh McErlean was fourth fastest to remain fifth overall. On his team-mate’s stage win, he smiled: “Good job, it’s good to see.”
Pajari stopped to change a tire early on the stage, dropping to 11th behind the other Rally1 runners.
Armstrong had been third overall after his stage win, but was forced to stop to change a puncture on SS6 – losing four minutes with a technical problem adding to his woes.
“Simultaneously we had a front-right puncture and lost all power, we’ll see if we can get the power back,” he explained.
