Armstrong and Treacy record their best-ever FIA European Rally Championship result in Poland

Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy crew Jon Armstrong and Eoin Treacy recorded their best-ever FIA European Rally Championship result during an action-packed Rally Silesia in Poland over last weekend.

With two stage wins on Friday and five on Sunday, including the Power Stage, Motorsport Ireland-backed Armstrong claimed his first ERC podium by finishing second.

At the wheel of a Pirelli-shod Ford Fiesta Rally2, he fought his way through from seventh position starting day two.

“To win five out of six stages on Sunday is crazy and the one stage we didn’t win we were probably on the wrong tyres. It was an unbelievable day. To be able to show this pace is very good and I always enjoy rallying in Poland because I work so much with M-Sport Poland.”

Armstrong finished 1.5 seconds ahead of newly crowned FIA European Rally Champion Hayden Paddon (Hyundai i20 Rally2) and just 18.3 seconds adrift of rally winner Andrea Mabellini (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2).

The M-Sport driver could have been even closer to the front had it not been for a time-consuming technical issue on SS2 and a half-spin on SS3.

It was the first podium finish on an FIA European Rally Championship event for an all-Irish crew since the much-missed Craig Breen and Paul Nagle took third overall on Rally Estonia in 2021 at the wheel of a Hyundai i20 R5.

“It’s nice that we have this result to bring to the bargaining table,” said Armstrong.

 “This IS right up there with some of my best achievements. I would say this is one of my best events I have ever done. We will remember this one in the future. I like the difficult conditions.”

Armstrong and Treacy believe that their result in Poland will put them in the “shop window” when it comes to securing drives for the 2025 season.

“There is still a lot of experience to get for all the rallies but when it comes to tarmac we can always be quite fast,” he added.

 “Hopefully, this result puts me in the shop window again for next year. A full package again would be very nice or do other events and maybe a couple of WRC 2 rallies.”

Photo from the Red Bull Content Pool