Jon Armstrong, M-Sport Ford driver, experienced the brutality of Rally Finland once again—an event he describes as entertaining yet crazy. The Irishman was in the spotlight after several rivals, including Sebastien Ogier, were involved in heavy incidents.
Armstrong had only contested Rally Finland once before, back in 2016, driving a front-wheel-drive Ford Fiesta. That outing ended in a crash on stage five. Now, a decade later, he returned in a Ford Puma Rally1—a completely different machine. However, history repeated itself as he crashed out on Friday's second stage.
Despite the setback, Armstrong completed the remaining stages on Saturday and Sunday without major issues, finishing 46th overall—far from his target of a strong result.
Rally Finland delivered plenty of drama again. Around half of the Rally1 field crashed over the weekend. The heaviest accident involved Ogier, who briefly lost consciousness before being airlifted to hospital. Fortunately, no one suffered serious injuries.
“It was a bit of a crazy rally with all of the incidents, the weather and the crashes that some of the guys had,” Armstrong said. “It’s been, let’s say, entertaining on one hand, but also a bit crazy on the other. It can happen, but it’s good for the sport and good for the fans. That’s what people watch it for – the entertainment value.”
Armstrong admitted his Friday retirement cost him dearly. “We need a clean Friday to try and capitalise on going into Saturday in a strong position because we’ve missed out on the last few rallies,” he explained. “We really need to focus on that going forward. But I guess we’ve collected a lot of experience, which is important considering we haven’t been here so many times before.”
With valuable experience under his belt, Armstrong hopes for better consistency in the next rounds. M-Sport Ford's performance remains under scrutiny after a string of disappointing results this season.
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