Jon Armstrong’s giant-killing performance on Rally du Var – fourth overall in a Rally3 car

Jon Armstrong put in a giant-killing performance to bring his Rally3 Ford Fiesta home in fourth place overall on Rally du Var over the weekend.
The Franch rally is one of the most difficult on the calendar and takes place on high mountain passes in the Southern French Alps.
“We finished up with a fantastic result in the M Sport Poland Fiesta Rally3 Evo.
It was a fantastic event, the stages are really, really with a nice big variation. Every stage had pretty much different characteristics, some were very smooth and some were more bumpy and narrow,” he said.
The rally’s top four was made up entirely of French Rally Championship frontrunners, with Yoann Bonato – a four-time Franch Tarmac Rally Champion –and Eric Camil a former M-Sport World Rally Team member – taking the top two places.
“The more bumpy narrow ones suited us better. We were getting closer to the top French crew and the Rally 2 cars.
We had some good pace compared to them with the likes of Bonato and Camilli and to be under two seconds per kilometre on those stages, which they’ve done year in and year out is really a pretty good performance and something the team were happy with,” he added.
It was the Fermanagh driver’s first attempt at the highly-specialised rally, and his first event since his nasty and well-documented accident on Czech Rally Zlin in August.
“Overall a fantastic rally and to get fourth place was a big surprise and down to our consistency and staying out of trouble.
“It was good to get back behind the wheel before the year was finished out and get back to driving, so really happy. We’ll try to see what we can do next year,” he said.
It was also his first time working with new co-driver Ross Whittock.
“A big thanks to Ross who stepped in at the last minute,” said Armstrong.
“He did a really professional job and from the get-go.”

---

---