Jon Armstrong delivered a formidable 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 Group stablemate Romet Jürgenson all through Saturday’s seven tough asphalt levels 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 battle again to sixth after incurring a two-minute penalty earlier than the beginning of the rally when members of his group breached rules.
“It was an excellent 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 harder since you simply need to preserve driving with an excellent 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 successful 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 general classification.
Regardless of a high-speed second, Jürgenson chalked up his maiden ERC stage win by topping the occasions on SS3, Y Diafol, which proved to be probably the most difficult stage of the loop. Jürgenson was 1.7 seconds quicker than Armstrong, who was lucky to not drop an excessive amount of time following a half spin right into a gate submit after getting off form by way 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 reducing 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 very optimistic day,” Jürgenson mentioned. “It’s been a bit stunning for me to be out entrance with Jon but it surely’s optimistic for the long run as a result of I nonetheless don’t have a lot expertise on these sorts of surfaces but it surely’s actually good.”
Marczyk rounded out the morning loop by successful SS4 to maneuver into third spot. The Polish driver maintained the place by way of the afternoon and commenced 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 right this moment tomorrow,” mentioned Marczyk, who heads Mabellini within the ERC title by 4 factors based mostly on the present positions and with dropped scores taken into consideration. “I’m focusing to take as a lot as potential from tomorrow, particularly the Energy Stage. However to get to the Energy Stage I’ll do my greatest.”
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 subject and a insecurity to seek 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 general.
