Jon Armstrong has surpassed early expectations after his first two events as a Rally1 driver in the World Rally Championship – but what is his ultimate potential?
The Irish driver stepped up to a Ford Puma Rally1 after two seasons campaigning a Ford Fiesta Rally2 for M-Sport in the European Rally Championship.
Paired with fellow Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver Josh McErlean, Armstrong failed to finish the Monte Carlo Rally (however was running sixth, and as high as third on the opening evening) but finished eighth, and the top M-Sport driver, in Sweden.
M-Sport team principal Richard Millener labelled Armstrong’s first two events as “incredible”, but stressed the team must be “cautious” with what to expect from the 31-year-old over the rest of 2026.
“I think we discussed it in Monte, but Jon’s big advantage is his age,” Millener told DirtFish.
Armstrong is older than most rookies, but that plays to his advantage believes Millener
“For me, early 30s is actually a really good age to come into this level, and what he achieved last year with the wins in the ERC and taking some of the pressure away from just going up.. it’s going up a big category, but it’s not going up a big category from being in the midst of WRC2.
“He was in ERC, the ERC is the feeder series for WRC, winning events outright. There’s not as much to have to prove when you come in.
“I also think he’s been through that turbulent career path of it was never given to him. It was a lot of setbacks and then keeping going, never giving up and finding the next way to get in and the next opportunity. And, you know, he’s been through the wringer with Malcolm [Wilson] a couple of times over the past 10 years as well! So that’s always a good training program.
“Then for the Academy to pick up his talent and help him move on to the next step, there’s so many things that are required to come together to give people the opportunity to get to the top level.
“In terms of what he’s capable of this year, I think we’ve got to be cautious. We don’t run before we can walk, but the first two events have been incredible. I think Kenya definitely presents opportunity, but it’s an event where you expect the unexpected.
“You could have a run of bad events and we’ve got to be careful that we don’t expect too much, but just the pace and the commitment and the speed he’s managed to adapt to this car is what is really impressive at the moment.”
Armstrong’s Rally Sweden wasn’t without error, as he lost 45 seconds on the very first stage when he missed his braking point and shot off into the snow, losing power for the rest of the stage as his Puma’s air filter was clogged with snow.
But he showed eye-catching pace towards the event, keeping seventh-placed Thierry Neuville honest for most of Sunday after the 2024 world champion suddenly fell into reach after his one-minute penalty.
Armstrong said: “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.”
Millener admitted he is now “very” excited with the team’s driver lineup as Mãrtiņš Sesks again showed his potential in Sweden with a Saturday stage win.
Armstrong has proved some doubters wrong already, but the season is still long
“I think, like everything, there were a few discussions and feedback from the outside that maybe we had the wrong line-up and that we should have Mãrtiņš full-time. ‘Is Jon ready for this?’ and things,” Millener added.
“But we’ve spent a lot of time developing younger drivers and junior drivers and we felt what we wanted to choose was the right option and I think after the first two rallies it shows that definitely the potential is there.
“It’s clear that we need funding to help run drivers in the team, but we’re not there just to run anybody: we want to run people that are going to do best for themselves, for the team and for their careers going forward and I think that’s what we’ve found here this weekend and shown this weekend so we’re very happy with what we’ve got.”
