Jon Armstrong keeps the positives from Acropolis Rally despite his having finished outside the top ten as the pace he showed on Friday was encouraging for him.
Jon Armstrong started Acropolis Rally in a positive way as he was the third-fastest driver in Stage 3 and managed to put M-Sport Ford back to the podium places considering that he gained three positions after SS3. He continued showing a great pace with his Puma Rally1 as once again he set the third-fastest time in Stage 4. Despite the fact that it was his eighth appearance with the M-Sport Ford's machinery, the Irishman claimed a stage win in SS5 of Acropolis Rally and put his team back to the podium places as he was third overall after SS5. However, Armstrong had to stop to change a front right pucture in Stage 6, but the problems continued for him on that stage as he had a power loss, stalled in a hairpin and got another puncture at the front left. He lost more than four minutes in SS6 resutling in dropping from third to outside the ten. Bad luck hit him again as M-Sport Ford announced Armstrong's retirement on the road section after SS6 as the turbo was broken. His mechanics prepared his car for Saturday and restarted under the SuperRally regulations while it must be mentioned that he started second on the road on Saturday and on Sunday. This means that he was sweeping the roads for the following Rally1 drivers as he is faster than Jourdan Serderidis who was starting first on the road after the end of Friday. Last but not least, Armstrong's car caught fire at the rear left after the end of Stage 13, but he and Shane Byrne managed to extinguish the fire. In general, Armstrong showed a promising pace with his Ford Puma Rally1 and was the best driver for M-Sport Ford until the end of Stage 5 as Josh McErlean and Martins Sesks were struggling to match their teammate's rhythm on the first five stages of Acropolis Rally.
"So that's the Acropolis Rally finished", Armstrong said.
"The first day went quite well to begin with - we made the most of our road position and got up to third overall with our first stage win.
"But then we had a technical issue and a couple of punctures, so we had to retire for the day.
"We spent the rest of the weekend road-sweeping, which was good learning, if a bit difficult after being on such a high the day before.
"There are still plenty of positives to take away, though - the pace we showed from that road position was really encouraging.
"We're looking forward to the fast gravel rallies now and seeing what we can do there.
"It was a tricky one, a case of what might have been, but that's how the Acropolis can be."
Photo Credits: M-Sport
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