Jon Armstrong Shows Strong Pace at Acropolis

Jon Armstrong demonstrated significant potential for M-Sport Ford at the 2026 Acropolis Rally Greece, setting a stage-winning time and climbing to third overall before technical trouble forced him to retire on Friday.

Armstrong’s pace was most evident when he benefited from a favourable road position on the opening full day. The cleaner surface provided greater grip and allowed him to extract the car’s performance, while his stage times showed that he could compete directly with the established frontrunners.

“It was actually quite good pace, especially on Friday when we had the best possible road position. After that we had to sweep the roads as one of the first cars over the final two days, which made it much harder to maintain the same speed,” Armstrong said.

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Armstrong rejoined the rally on Saturday, but starting near the front left him dealing with a looser gravel surface. That road-cleaning effect directly reduced grip and made comparisons with drivers running much later in the order significantly less favourable.

The Irishman admitted that the scale of the road-position effect in Greece had surprised him. He felt he was driving well and finding strong grip, but only understood the size of the advantage after seeing the stage times at the finish.

“It really showed how much road position can influence the result. It was enjoyable while it lasted, but unfortunately it only lasted for one stage before we had to retire,” he said.

After returning for the final two days, Armstrong shifted his focus from the overall result towards gathering experience. Although his stage times were slower than those of drivers starting much further behind, he considered that outcome predictable because the early-running cars had to clear the loose gravel.

Armstrong regarded the weekend as evidence that M-Sport is making clear progress in outright pace. However, the technical problem that struck while he was running third prevented the final result from reflecting that potential. If the team can maintain its development trajectory while reducing reliability setbacks, the speed displayed in Greece could provide a foundation for stronger results in the next rounds.