As the WRC season enters a busy summer period, all three M-Sport crews leave the Canary Islands with growing confidence and valuable learnings ahead of the final Tarmac round in Japan next month.

FINAL CLASSIFICATIONS

RC1 / OVERALL

8th: Josh McErlean / Eoin Treacy

11th: Jon Armstrong / Shane Byrne

RC2

14th: Romet Jürgenson / Siim Oja (23rd Overall)

EVENT SUMMARY

A predominantly clean weekend for M-Sport across all three entries, with every car making it to the finish to boost the teams’ confidence as it heads into a busy run of summer events.

McErlean and Armstrong pushed each other hard throughout the weekend, their closely-matched stage times reflecting genuine progression and growing confidence in the Puma Rally1 car, underpinned by a strong team spirit as Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy crews continue to learn together.

Jürgenson and Oja faced a steeper challenge adapting to Gran Canaria's fast, smooth tarmac in the Fiesta Rally2, but showed encouraging progression throughout, culminating in a standout Sunday morning performance that underlined their true pace.

Changeable weather and unpredictable grip levels tested all three crews across Saturday and Sunday, with tyre choice proving a critical factor. Each crew navigated the uncertainty with composure, keeping their cars clean where others faltered.

With the championship switching back to gravel at Rally de Portugal in just over a week's time, M-Sport will take genuine confidence from the progress shown across all three entries in the Canary Islands.

Richard Millener, M-Sport Ford Team Principal, said: “This event is one of the most specialist events on the calendar, testing the ability to manage tyre performance whilst perfecting your smooth tarmac driving style on these fast and wide roads - it really challenges the crews like no other. The team can go away from here happy that everyone has made strong progress over the weekend and have learnt valuable lessons for future events. Personally, also a big thank you to the team who have worked tirelessly to get the cars here and ready after finishing the Croatia Rally just over a week ago, and will now have a couple of days at home before flying to Portugal to re-prep them for this event. The dedication required to operate at this level is huge, and it is hugely appreciated.”

CREW SUMMARIES

FORD PUMA RALLY1

#55 Josh McErlean / Eoin Treacy

Arriving in the Canary Islands with a point to prove following a difficult Rally Croatia, McErlean and Treacy set their sights on a clean, progressive drive to demonstrate their development over the course of the season.

The pair made an encouraging start on Thursday evening, posting the fifth-fastest time on the opening Super Special Stage, held in a packed stadium with an electric atmosphere.

McErlean spent Friday finding his rhythm, pushing alongside teammate Armstrong as both drivers focused on consistency over outright pace. The approach paid off, McErlean ended the day ninth overall with no incidents and another tidy run through the technical stadium stage.

The healthy competition with Armstrong continued into Saturday amid changeable conditions and grip challenges, going faster than his teammate on a number of stages. In SS14, McErlean prudently backed off after receiving a warning that Armstrong had gone off the road ahead, yet still completed the stage within seconds of Neuville. A measured drive brought the pair safely through the day in ninth overall, with four stages remaining on Sunday.

McErlean opened Sunday in impressive fashion, outpacing both Armstrong and Dani Sordo on the first stage of the day with a clever, composed performance in slippery and demanding conditions.

After a clean run through the Power Stage, setting an equal time to Hyundai’s Fourmaux, McErlean and Treacy confirmed their eighth overall finish, completing a successful weekend.

Josh McErlean, 8th overall said: "It's been a really positive weekend for us. We had a clean rally for once, which represents a big step up in performance compared to previous events. The team has done an excellent job, and I'm grateful for their patience and dedication in finding the improvements we needed. Battling throughout the stages has been enjoyable, and we're looking forward to Portugal - a rally we really enjoy and where we hope to deliver a strong result."

#95 Jon Armstrong / Shane Byrne

Utilising their previous experience of the smooth asphalt of Gran Canaria, Armstrong and co-driver Shane Byrne made a clean start to the rally on Friday morning.

SS4 brought an early scare when Armstrong struggled with understeer into a corner due to the low grip levels in damp conditions, narrowly avoiding calamity thanks to the nearby escape road, which caught the car and allowed them to turn around safely, but the pair would drop over 30 seconds in total.

A further moment followed in SS7, where Armstrong went wide and clipped an armco, causing some minor damage before the midday service. The day's difficulties were compounded in the final stage by a driveshaft issue that left the pair with front-wheel drive only through the tricky stadium section, but overall the pair fought through Friday well, battling with teammate McErlean and ending the first full day in 11th overall.

Saturday started strongly, tackling some unfamiliar stages, Armstrong posted a time 3.3 seconds faster than Spanish favourite Dani Sordo on the morning's opener, gaining a position to move into tenth overall.

A cautious approach through the wet and changeable conditions of SS10 kept Armstrong out of trouble, though progress was measured. Intercom issues in SS12 added a layer of complexity for the pair, but Armstrong still managed to improve on his first pass of the stage by two seconds.

SS14 proved the day's defining moment. Armstrong went wide into a corner, narrowly missing the armco as he wrestled the car through a gap into the adjoining field. With help from nearby spectators, the pair were able to rejoin and complete the stage, just seconds before teammates McErlean and Treacy passed; but the incident cost them over two minutes and dropped Armstrong to 16th overall.

Sunday saw Armstrong adopt a measured, clean approach, sitting just a second behind teammate McErlean on SS16, then going 5.4 seconds fastest on the following stage.

With a final push in the Power Stage, Armstrong would go seventh fastest, 2.8 seconds faster than Hyundai’s Fourmaux, and gaining himself another position in the overall classifications, to finish 11th overall.

Jon Armstrong, 11th overall, said: "It's been quite a tricky weekend. Coming here from Croatia, which was also quite tough and twisty, I thought it should be okay, but I probably underestimated the challenge of the rally in terms of all the consecutive corners - the tyre gets very hot and there's not so much grip to the Tarmac. We just really struggled to be in a good rhythm and have good speed like we did in Croatia, which is frustrating. I made some mistakes trying to learn the tyre, because it's a bit different from what we had in previous ERC seasons. I'm grateful to get to the finish and still learn as much as we can. We'll try to pick ourselves back up for Portugal. We only got one Tarmac rally left this year and then a lot of gravel, so it's important to learn how to progress on gravel. Josh and Martins will be quite fast there, so we have good teammates to benchmark ourselves off and learn where we should go with setup on the test."

FIESTA RALLY2

#38 Romet Jürgenson / Siim Oja

Jürgenson and Oja arrived in Gran Canaria facing a formidable field of local and experienced Tarmac specialists, but brought strong momentum following an encouraging performance in Croatia, despite the very different conditions on offer in the Canary Islands.

Jürgenson began to find his footing through Friday's afternoon loop, posting stage times just outside the top-ten as his confidence grew. Tyre selections and the demanding high-speed nature of the stages presented early challenges, but the crew ended the first full day 13th in the RC2 class.

Saturday proved a more difficult day. Changeable weather, unfamiliar roads and tyre management all weighed on Jürgenson, and the unique driving style demanded by Gran Canaria's tarmac stages proved difficult to adapt to. Despite his frustrations, Jurgenson kept a level head, focussing on finding a rhythm and staying out of trouble. He ended Saturday in 16th in RC2.

Sunday morning saw clear progression to the Estonian pair’s form . With a well-judged tyre choice for the damp conditions, Jürgenson delivered one of his strongest performances of the weekend, setting the eighth-fastest time in RC2 on SS15, outperforming many more experienced crews who struggled in the same conditions.

Another measured drive through the final Power Stage saw the Estonian pair confirm their 14th in class finish, their eyes locked on further positive development on asphalt.

Romet Jürgenson, 23rd overall, 14th RC2, said: "It's been a challenging weekend, and we recognize there are improvements needed across multiple areas. My driving technique on wide roads requires a very specific approach that I'm still refining, but I'm optimistic about our direction ahead. We're now moving forward to Portugal where we'll be competing on gravel - my preferred surface - and I'm confident this will bring better results."