Jon Armstrong Takes Key Lessons from Monte Carlo Drama

WRC, Sportrik Media - The final result may not have reflected the potential he showed, but Jon Armstrong insists Rally Monte Carlo 2026 still represented a highly positive start to his top-class career in the World Rally Championship with M-Sport aboard the Ford Puma Rally1.

Few would have predicted the Irishman to sit third overall after the opening two stages of the 2026 season. Yet Armstrong found himself exactly there after a chaotic second stage in Monte Carlo, putting him firmly on course for a top-six finish on his Rally1 debut and first competitive outing at the Rally Monte Carlo.

That promising trajectory unraveled on the penultimate stage. A slushy corner, combined with understeer and rapidly changing surface conditions, resulted in a heavy impact that damaged the steering and brake disc, ultimately forcing Armstrong out of the rally.

It’s a lesson learned.
The whole start of the stage had melted, and between the RNC going through and us going through it, it melted even more than what they had seen.

A lot of the information had changed at the start of the stage where it was mostly tarmac.
In these scenarios, when everything feels like tarmac, you have to take extra caution when you hear slush or snow in the pacenotes.

It shows you that when you arrive at the one place where it’s still really bad, you either get away with it or you don’t.
In that scenario, we didn’t get away with it.

The car aquaplaned and it was a very narrow place, with no real opportunity to recover once the front washed out.
I’m gutted for everyone involved to lose what would have been a strong result because of something I’ve done.

Despite the retirement, Armstrong’s reputation emerged strengthened. Before Monte Carlo, even Armstrong himself was unsure what to expect from his first Rally1 appearance. The rally instead delivered a clear action point for improvement: faster and more efficient roadside repairs.

Less visible to the wider audience was the fact that Armstrong and co-driver Shane Byrne did manage to get the car to the end of the stage they crashed on, only to be eliminated by time loss.

This is an area I’ve spoken to Rich Millener about.
I need to improve, and I think Shane also needs to improve in working on the car.

You can practise it in the workshop, but doing it in that environment is completely different when something is actually bent.
The positive was that we did fix that side of the car, but it took too long.

Armstrong acknowledged that, in theory, the car could have been repaired in time, but the scale of the damage made the task extremely difficult.

I broke the steering arm and the compression strut on the left side, which are two big jobs.
Then, because the brake disc was broken, we had to block off the brake line as well.

When we finished all of that, it was already too late.
And it turned out the steering arm on the right side was also broken after we lightly clipped the wall on the way back to the road.

Essentially, we had no steering at all when we parked the car.

Armstrong stressed that rapid repair work will be vital at the tougher rallies ahead, including Safari Rally Kenya.

It’s something we need to be good at.
When we go into the rougher rallies coming up, timing will be crucial.

We know we can do it; it’s just about doing it quickly.

Looking ahead to Rally Sweden, Armstrong believes expectations should remain measured. His last full rally on snow and ice came in 2022, when he won in Junior WRC.

In Monte, even though we were doing well, I wasn’t completely happy overall.
Sweden is a very different rally, it’s all flat out and about unlocking the full potential of the car.

I’ll compare myself to Josh McErlean and Martins Sesks.
In Monte Carlo, we compared well with Gregoire Munster and Josh, and that gives us a reference.

Anything above that will be a real bonus.

Armstrong also expressed excitement at the prospect of driving a Rally1 car on full snow tyres, describing it as a rare and special opportunity.

Experiencing a full Monte Carlo in a Rally1 is probably something nobody will ever experience again.
To now go to Sweden, another classic rally, is going to be very special.