Jon Armstrong headed an M-Sport 1-2 in Wales as ERC title battle continues to Croatia
Photography by Red Bull & Spacesuit Media
Words by Luke Barry
Jon Armstrong claimed his maiden European Rally Championship victory at Rali Ceredigion in an M-Sport 1-2 ahead of team-mate Romet Jürgenson.
In doing so, Armstrong secured M-Sport and the Ford Fiesta Rally2’s first ERC win since Adrien Fourmaux’s success at 2020’s edition of Rally Islas Canarias.
Championship leader Miko Marczyk completed the podium to extend his series lead heading into next month’s finale in Croatia.
There were ramifications in the ERC title race before the penultimate round of the season even got underway however, as Andrea Mabellini was handed a two-minute time penalty for breaking reconnaissance rules.
That put the Italian at an immediate disadvantage, but he drove with intent to dominate the qualifying stage and fight all the way up to an eventual sixth place on the leaderboard.
Mabellini lost just four points to Marczyk despite his two-minute penalty (Credit: Jordan Gullick)
But off the back of a strong result at Barum Rally Zlín three weeks ago, Armstrong was quicker anyway. Although it was Marczyk’s Škoda that set the pace on Friday’s blast round the streets of host town Aberystwyth, Armstrong moved ahead on Saturday’s opening moorland test and never looked back.
A strong challenger emerged however in the form of his M-Sport team-mate Jürgenson, who was making his ERC debut at Rally2 level. Contesting this year’s British Rally Championship – which Ceredigion was also a points-scoring round of – alongside his WRC2 campaign, last year’s Junior WRC champion was in inspired form to end Saturday’s leg just 7.3 seconds behind the more experienced Armstrong.
However Jürgenson had a mature head on the final day, realizing his chances were diminishing once Armstrong had beaten everyone by 3.3s on Sunday morning’s opener.
The Irish driver had ignored the forecasted rain and gone without any wet tires for the morning loop which paid dividends, earning him a lead of 13.8s that he was able to defend over the afternoon.
And when the rain did tip it down for the afternoon, Armstrong was sensational. Quickest by 14.5s – a second per kilometer – on Nant y Moch 2, the M-Sport man more than doubled his lead in one stage, affording himself the chance to take it easy on the powerstage to bring home a 29.2s victory.
“It’s something you’re always working towards for sure,” Armstrong smiled. “We [Shane Byrne, co-driver and I] had a nice little cry together on the way down here, I was so emotional before going into the stage so I just drove it so carefully.
“A lot of hard work, a lot of years’ rallying has gone into getting here. Big thanks to M-Sport, 1-2 shows the car’s great. I just can’t believe it, it’ll take a while to sink in.
“Why not [go for the title]?,” he added. “It’s all to play for in Croatia and it’s another slippy rally so anything’s possible.”
Armstrong’s win was also his first in the BRC, as he was registered for points in that championship too, with fourth-placed overall William Creighton rounding out that podium behind Jürgenson to edge perilously close to the national title. Former Rali Ceredigion winner Osian Pryce rounded out the overall top-five in his Hyundai.
As for the ERC title race, Mabellini was peerless on the powerstage to limit his points deficit to Marczyk, who was only third fastest on the final stage. That means Marczyk outscored Mabellini by four points, therefore carrying 15 points.
With dropped scores considered, Marczyk’s lead is just two over Mabellini.
Words:Luke Barry
Tags: ERC, ERC 2025, Rali Ceredigion, Rali Ceredigion 2025
Publish Date September 7, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/09/OyBfn2P6-SI202509071038-780x520.jpg September 7, 2025
Up Next
