Jon Armstrong’s impact on the World Rally Championship is clear.
Granted, the last two events haven’t gone to plan, but he’s not had world champions calling him the star of the season so far nothing.
But Armstrong can’t do it alone. Alongside him every step of the way has been co-driver Shane Byrne, whose rise to the world stage may be even more remarkable than his driver’s.
Why? Prior to this year’s Monte Carlo Rally, Byrne had never started a round of the world championship before. Not just in a Rally1 car. Not ever.
His is a story filled with setbacks, comebacks, opportunities taken and above all else, determination. But it all started when his parents surprised him.
“I didn’t know how to get involved in rallying,” Byrne tells DirtFish’s SPIN, The Rally Pod.
Bryne was dropped in at the deep end at the start of 2026, but has swam perfectly
“I remember there was a fundraiser going on that a guy called Barry McGill was involved in. He offered up a seat with himself for the May Day Rally. So I said to mom that I was going to get into the auction of the fundraiser that night and bid on it.
“For one reason or another, it never went in. But the next day, mom rang me at lunchtime and she says: ‘Were you chatting to dad today?’ and I said no. She says: ‘He went in and he bought you the seat’.
“I think it was maybe 250 or 280 euro or something, and that was it. We made contact with Barry, got organized for that, and that was my first introduction to rallying. That’s literally how I got my first seat was through a charity auction.”
The rest, as they say, is history.
Byrne spent several years in Ireland working his way up the ranks until the chance came to partner Armstrong in the European Rally Championship last year for M-Sport. Winning the final two events of the year, in Wales and Czechia, they’d anticipated they’d be in for some WRC events in the Fiesta Rally2 for 2026.
Little did they know…
“We were actually the last two guys probably to know about it [our Rally1 program] which made it all the better because it left the excitement a lot more for us on the day,” says Byrne.
“I still get goosebumps talking about it because you’re reliving that moment.
“After the announcement had come, even Malcolm Wilson says: ‘Did you guys really not know that this was happening?’ We’re like no, even our engineer Rory who’s come up with us to Rally1 knew.
“But I wouldn’t change it; you’ll only get that excitement once of being promoted to the top level, you can never relive that again.”
Shane dives deeper into his Rally1 promotion as well as his rallying backstory, relationship with Armstrong, thoughts on the season so far, what he’s like outside of the sport and what it’s really like to compete at this level on the latest edition of SPIN, The Rally Pod.
You can listen to the same episode ad-free if you join Club DirtFish.
