Irish duo targeting strong performance on Bauhaus Royal Rally of Scandinavia

Round three of the European Rally Championship that gets underway in earnest Friday morning following Thursday night’s short 2.23km spectator stage.

Fri, 14 Jun, 2024 - 12:26

Martin Walsh

The Irish duo of Jon Armstrong and Eoin Treacy are targeting a strong performance on Bauhaus Royal Rally of Scandinavia, round three of the European Rally Championship that gets underway in earnest Friday morning following Thursday night’s short 2.23km spectator stage.

Kesh driver Armstrong onboard the M-Sport run Ford Fiesta Rally2 has a platform from which to build upon.

“I did the event last year, so I've got a bit of experience of the stages and we are reusing the same pace notes and just improving them from last year.”

Twelve months ago, he had his first outing in a Ford Fiesta Rally2.

“Now, I can build upon the knowledge that we got from the set-up and how to drive the car on the stages, to try and get a good rhythm and set some good stage times.”

He underlined the value of knowing some of the stages.

“It's a big help, I think, when you've driven down a stage and you've used a set of pace notes before, you just have a bit of extra confidence and you're more reassured.”

He added, “Even going through some of the new stages on this rally with fresh pacenotes is a good challenge whenever you commit first time, but for sure the experience from last year should really help.”

Armstrong’s co-driver Eoin Treacy (25) from Killeagh has made rapid progress in the sport - something that Armstrong understands.

“I heard a lot of good feedback about Eoin before getting in the car with him. Everyone in the Academy thinks a lot of his potential and now, at this level, being able to put it into practice is really good.

"It's about good communication and just trying to help each other, get up to speed as quickly as possible.

"Our first two rallies went very well, we get on very well with the pacenotes. Eoin’s very good at the delivery of the notes and the way I like them to be read. Even during reconnaissance we're very chilled out, we're on the same page, which always is a bonus.”

Armstrong chuckled; “Now the honeymoon period is almost over.”

Treacy said, “It’s a fantastic opportunity, it’s great to get a chance like this to compete at the top level of the European Rally Championship with Jon (Armstrong) and M-Sport. Working with the MI Rally Academy over the past two years has helped me prepare for this. For sure, it’s a big step up in pace, I’m enjoying the challenge.”

Opposition in Sweden includes one of Armstrong’s childhood heroes Petter Solberg, the 2003 World Rally Champion.

“It's really cool to be actually be driving against him now. He's really nice, and also his son Oliver, who was the winner here last year, will be pretty fast, so it's good competition for sure,” said Armstrong.

The battle of the Solberg’s on territory relatively close to the family home adds an interesting dimension. Petter (49) hasn’t competed at international level since 2019, however, he remains hugely popular in the sport, he will sit behind the wheel of VW Polo GTi Rally2 - the same car that son Oliver (22) drove to victory in last year’s rally, the latter pilots a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2.

Reigning ERC champion Hayden Paddon (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) heads the entry followed by Efren Llarena and current championship leader, Mathieu Franceschi, both in Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 cars.

Armstrong/Treacy are seeded at number seven in a top ten that also features Mads Ostberg (Citroen C3 Rally2.)

Meanwhile, Galway’s Aoife Raftery will campaign a PCRS Rallysport-prepared Peugeot 208 Rally4 aiming to secure points in the ERC Junior series. She is co-driven by Antrim’s Hannah McKillop.