Jon Armstrong delivered a powerful drive to carry a slender 7.3-second lead heading into the ultimate day of JDS Equipment Rali Ceredigion, spherical seven of the 2025 FIA European Rally Championship.
Armstrong was locked in an intense battle with M-Sport Ford World Rally Workforce stablemate Romet Jürgenson all through Saturday’s seven tough asphalt phases because the Pirelli-equipped Ford Fiesta Rally2 pair pulled away from the chasing pack.
Championship chief Miko Marczyk boosted his title aspirations to carry third, 20.9 seconds behind Armstrong as his nearest factors rival, Andrea Mabellini, managed to struggle again to sixth after incurring a two-minute penalty earlier than the beginning of the rally when members of his staff breached rules.
“It was day, just one mistake,” mentioned Armstrong. “Clearly it’s fairly shut between me and Romet which makes it somewhat bit simpler from that facet but in addition tougher since you simply should hold driving with rhythm and never having to handle an enormous lead. It’s nonetheless an enormous day tomorrow and the climate appears prefer it’s going to be fairly essential.”
Armstrong kicked off the day by profitable SS2 because the Motorsport Eire Rally Academy driver pipped Jürgenson by 0.6sec to maneuver 0.3sec in entrance of in a single day chief Marczyk within the total classification.
Regardless of a high-speed second, Jürgenson chalked up his maiden ERC stage win by topping the instances on SS3, Y Diafol, which proved to be probably the most difficult stage of the loop. Jürgenson was 1.7 seconds sooner than Armstrong, who was lucky to not drop an excessive amount of time following a half spin right into a gate put up after getting out of form by means of an more and more muddy right-hand flip.
The battle continued into the afternoon as Armstrong started to edge away from Jürgenson after beating the Estonian driver by 3.3 seconds in SS6. Jürgenson responded by chopping the lead by 1.2 seconds in SS7, earlier than matching his rival’s time on the day-closing Aberystwyth city centre tremendous particular.
“It’s been a extremely constructive day,” Jürgenson mentioned. “It’s been a bit shocking for me to be out entrance with Jon however it’s constructive for the longer term as a result of I nonetheless don’t have a lot expertise on these sorts of surfaces however it’s actually good.”
Marczyk rounded out the morning loop by profitable SS4 to maneuver into third spot. The Polish driver maintained the place by means of the afternoon and started to edge away from Probite British Rally Championship chief William Creighton, who ended the day in fourth.
“It was an extended one however we have to do our job like in the present day tomorrow,” mentioned Marczyk, who heads Mabellini within the ERC title by 4 factors based mostly on the present positions and with dropped scores taken under consideration. “I’m focusing to take as a lot as doable from tomorrow, particularly the Energy Stage. However to get to the Energy Stage I’ll do my finest.”
Two-time Rali Ceredigion winner Osian Pryce (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) accomplished the day in fifth after a difficult leg that included a few spins, a technical problem and a insecurity to search out the restrict.
Mabellini heads into Sunday in sixth, 1 minute and eight.1 seconds behind Pryce after delivering a stoic fightback, headlined by stage wins in SS5 and SS7. The Italian driver managed to overtake Callum Black, who slipped to seventh total.
