WRC
Armstrong: "We don't really know what could have been possible"
Jon Armstrong has little time to dwell on what might have been following an early setback on Delfi Rally Estonia.
The M-Sport Ford pilot damaged the front left wheel on his Puma when he landed wide on a jump on the rally’s opening stage, losing 19.6sec on a rally in which every tenth of a second would count.
With four drivers completing Friday within 20sec of Armstrong, the Irishman could be forgiven for contemplating what might have been, had he started Saturday morning two to three places back in the running order. As it was, he ended up running second behind Takamoto Katsuta, who had retired on Friday evening after running out of spare tyres. It handicapped the rookie severely, eventually finishing in ninth.
Jon Armstrong looks on
© At World
“It [the damaged wheel] affected our road position quite a lot, so we don't really know what could have been possible given the road position…especially as the stages were very, very loose,” opined a reflective Armstrong on Sunday afternoon.
“Overall, I think it's been quite positive, some of the times that we set and some of the pace and even compared to Mārtiņš’ [Sesks] times our pace has been quite good. So yeah, we have to take some positives.”
Armstrong was no stranger to competing in Estonia, but last weekend marked his first occasion taking on fast gravel stages in a Rally1 car, curiously likening it to the calendar’s only full snow event, Rally Sweden.
Armstrong in action in Estonia
© At World
“It's good fun,” smiled the 31-year-old. “I enjoyed it a lot, and, yeah, okay, Sweden was a little bit like that…you've got obviously a very different tyre, but using the aero as well, so I feel like that helped us warm up a little bit.
“These cars are really nice with all the aero. It's, I say, something else to really understand, and once you understand it, it's just the ultimate adrenaline rush, and you just push as much as you can.”
With Secto Rally Finland less than one week away, Armstrong will be better off from the Estonian outing in terms of gaining high-speed gravel experience but is facing one other major disadvantage. Armstrong has only once previously competed in Finland, back in 2016. It was a forgettable experience, rolling his Ford Fiesta R2T on the rally’s fourth full-length stage.
"It's just the ultimate adrenaline rush, and you just push as much as you can.”
“Finland's going to be difficult because everyone else knows the roads, knows where they're going…and even this weekend, the stages that I've done before, you can feel that you have more rhythm and feel more confidence. So I think it's going to be a bit tricky in Finland.”
