Jon Armstrong knows something has to change. Costly errors on each of the past four rounds of the World Rally Championship have forced the M-Sport driver to rethink his approach. His latest crash on Saturday morning at Rally Chile, while running sixth overall, was another blow in what had been a promising maiden campaign in the WRC’s top flight.
The incident wasn’t just bad luck. Armstrong admits his pacenotes were the root cause, particularly on tightening corners. “It’s quite tricky when you’ve got the pressure to get a clean rally,” he told DirtFish. “Friday here was quite wet and tricky, and we managed to get through really narrow, tricky stages. Then we moved to Saturday which is more wide and faster stages, but in saying that it can be a bit more tricky to have your pacenotes correct.”
He described the moment that ended his rally: “I think the corner where we rolled, I was expecting the corner to continue a bit longer before it tightened. So actually where I started decelerating was where I thought was OK but the corner then tightened a bit more than what I was thinking. So, yeah, it’s frustrating. I think we can analyze these areas where things are going wrong, there does seem to be some consistency. It’s not easy because you can see this morning, whenever the confidence is fully knocked and you know the pressure is really on then you’re nowhere.”
There was a silver lining: on the powerstage, Armstrong was back to within a second per kilometer of the pace. “That’s good going forward. But I think it’s a weekend where we see how the highs and lows can be. I think everything will click into place sometime soon. And then the result will come. But at the minute, it’s very frustrating for everyone.”
M-Sport team principal Richard Millener told DirtFish he believed Armstrong’s pacenotes were the root cause of his troubles, especially on tightening corners. Armstrong is inclined to agree and now plans a ‘back-to-basics’ approach. “I think in that particular corner, there’s quite a lot of detail, which doesn’t make it so easy to consume everything and understand everything. So potentially stripping things back a little bit will make it easier, and get the absolute vital information in,” he explained.
He knows being too cautious with notes can slow him down, but it’s a necessary step. “It’s not easy when you have something like this, so it’s maybe better to be a bit more on the safe side with your notes and then build it up from there. Obviously you don’t want to be too cautious with your pacenotes or you’ll be slow. But in the same moment I think it’s something to be learned about trying to strip back the detail and make sure everything’s as precise as it can be. But in saying that, it’s new stages, so it’s hard because we’re going to a lot of new rallies and they’re coming thick and fast and you have your two passes on recce and then you ch... [truncated]”
With this new approach, Armstrong hopes to turn his fortunes around in WRC 2026. His speed is undeniable; now it’s about consistency. If he gets it right, he could soon be fighting at the front again.
Baca Juga
Toyota resmi menarik Yuki Yamamoto dari WRC Sardinia 2026 setelah serangkaian hasil buruk, termasuk kecelakaan di Chile yang menyebabkan co-driver cedera.
Project Rally One bakal rotasi pembalap di WRC 2027 karena tak ikut musim penuh. Simak strategi unik dan target mereka di sini.
Esapekka Lappi mengumumkan pensiun sementara dari reli profesional setelah musim 2025. Ia akan fokus membimbing Lauri Halonen dan mengaku takut kehilangan sensasi berkendara.
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