Armstrong and Byrne secure points finish on rollercoaster Rally Estonia
Jon Armstrong and Shane Byrne secured a ninth-place finish and two World Rally Championship points on Rally Estonia despite a puncture on the opening stage hampering their challenge throughout the weekend.
The Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy crew suffered a tyre debead after an awkward landing on stage one, costing them 30 seconds and compromising their road position for Saturday and Sunday's high-speed stages. Despite having to clean the loose surface roads, Armstrong and Byrne showed their potential with a sixth-fastest time on stage two and two seventh-fastest times, whilst enjoying close battles with the Toyota of WRC title challengers Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston.
"It was a bit of a tricky start to the rally, we had the tyre debead on the first stage over the jump, and then we struggled to make back the time we'd lost," said Armstrong. "Overall we're happy with the pace. When you gauge it against Josh and Mārtiņš in the same car it's looking quite good, so we're happy with that, and we're looking forward to Finland - it's going to be a good experience in one of these cars.”
Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy were on course for a strong result after finishing Friday eighth overall with a sixth-fastest time on stage five among their highlights.
A mechanical failure on stage eight cost them ten minutes, and while they managed to fix the issue and reach the end of stage nine, they ultimately had to retire for the remainder of Saturday. They returned under super-rally regulations to complete Sunday's final two stages.
"It was a bit frustrating, obviously, what happened on Saturday, but our pace on Friday was nice," said McErlean. "Sunday was a bit of a struggle starting first on the road, but we'll keep learning and we have plenty of positives to take into Finland. It's a big reset for the team this week, and we'll push on in Finland.”
Aaron Johnston lost ground to his WRC rivals in Estonia after a double puncture on Friday forced his Toyota Yaris Rally1 out of contention. He returned with Takamoto Katsuta for the remaining two days but struggled with their road position, with a top-five Power Stage finish providing some consolation.
Fellow Irish co-driver James Fulton and Yuki Yamamoto were also forced to complete the rally under super-rally regulations after going off the road on Saturday's penultimate Otepaa test in their Toyota Yaris Rally2.