Jon Armstrong and Romet Jürgenson both fell foul of the challenging Chilean conditions, with Armstrong recovering from a Saturday accident to reach the finish and Jürgenson forced out by a crash on Friday's SS3. The event rounds off the team's South American double-header, with the championship now heading back to Europe for Rally Italia Sardegna.
FINAL CLASSIFICATIONS
WRC / OVERALL
7th: Josh McErlean / Eoin Treacy
33rd: Jon Armstrong / Shane Byrne (SR)
RC2
Retired Friday: Romet Jürgenson / Siim Oja (accident)
EVENT SUMMARY
After the typical spectacular opening ceremony in Concepción on Thursday evening, crews began the action on Friday in tricky conditions, with muddy stages providing little grip and technical sections threatening to catch out crews.
Josh McErlean delivered another clean and consistent performance in the Ford Puma Rally1, despite suffering some damage after colliding with a bank during one of Sunday morning's stages, and finished with another solid result in 7th overall.
Jon Armstrong suffered disappointment after rolling his Puma Rally1 on Saturday's SS8, forcing him to retire for the day with extensive damage to the car's cooling package. Armstrong was able to continue for the final day to complete the event on Sunday.
Romet Jürgenson enjoyed a strong start to the event but had his weekend cut short by an accident on Friday's SS3, which caused too much damage to his Ford Fiesta Rally2 for him to continue.
The team returns home after a busy three weeks away in South America, ready for a short turnaround before Rally Italia Sardegna in a few weeks' time.
Richard Millener, M-Sport Ford Team Principal, said: “It's been a mixed weekend for the team in Chile. The conditions were relentless from the first stage to the last, and that showed in the results for Jon and Romet, who will both be disappointed not to see the finish as they'd hoped. Josh and Eoin, on the other hand, delivered another mature and consistent drive to bring home another valuable points finish. I think each of these crews have learnt some valuable lessons during their three week stint out here, and we will take these lessons from South America with us as we turn our attention to Sardinia.”
CREW SUMMARIES
FORD PUMA RALLY1
#55 Josh McErlean / Eoin Treacy
McErlean and Treacy started the event with a clear goal to increase their pace on this competitive event, using their consistency to bring home a strong result for the team.
Friday morning brought some muddy stages that made finding grip a demanding task for crews, but McErlean found his footing. Battling with Armstrong in the afternoon, McErlean came out on top and finished Friday in seventh overall.
Saturday brought a trickier start for McErlean, who suffered a puncture in the day's opening stage, dropping him nearly a minute in the stage times. He continued to struggle with the car's set-up in the morning loop, but changes made during service allowed him to feel more comfortable in the afternoon.
McErlean's aim for the afternoon was to close the gap to Hyundai's Lappi. The Irish pair picked up a 10-second penalty after a late issue in service caused them to check in one minute late, putting them nearly a minute adrift of the Finn. They fought hard to keep close in the stage timings but ultimately ended the day in seventh overall.
Sunday started cleanly, with the clear goal of reaching the finish with their overall position intact. A moment on SS14 threatened this, as McErlean suffered an engine stall after outbraking himself over a crest, causing them to roll into the bank and lose the front bumper. No major damage was sustained and the pair were able to finish the loop, managing with a minimal aero package. Going eighth-fastest on the power stage, they secured seventh overall to round out a solid run in South America.
Josh McErlean, 7th overall, said: “It's been a weekend of ups and downs, cleaning the road on Friday came with a lot of mud, but it's been nice to finish our South American adventure with sixth in Paraguay and seventh here in Chile. They were really tough events for the team, but we still managed to get two finishes, and hopefully in Sardinia we can have some advantage with our road position.”
#95 Jon Armstrong / Shane Byrne
Making their Rally Chile debut, Armstrong and Byrne aimed for a clean event and a strong finish as they head towards the end of their maiden season at the WRC's top flight.
They started the event cleanly on Friday, gaining pace throughout the day despite struggling with grip in the morning, and closing on teammates McErlean and Treacy.
During the afternoon loop they gained a position on McErlean and Treacy to sit seventh, but lost it again on the day's final stage to drop to eighth, only 2.4 seconds behind their teammates.
This form sadly did not carry into Saturday. On SS8, Armstrong suffered some understeer through a corner, which pulled the car into the bank and caused it to roll, damaging the front of the car. With help from spectators, the pair were able to right the car and continue slowly through the rest of the stage, but on the road section too much damage was found to the cooling system, bringing their day to an early end.
A disappointing moment in their South American campaign given their aim of a clean event, but the team repaired the car and the crew refocused to take on Sunday and reach the finish.
A drama-free Sunday for Armstrong, who went seventh-fastest on the penultimate stage, gaining back positions in the overall standings before finishing the event 33rd overall. Armstrong and Byrne leave South America with crucial lessons and experience to take into the remainder of their Rally1 campaign in 2026.
Jon Armstrong, 33rd overall, said: “It wasn't our goal to have Saturday end up like that, that's for sure, we really wanted to have a clean event. Friday was tricky because of the wet weather, so it was pleasing to get through that cleanly. Then on Saturday's second stage, I thought I remembered a corner quite well, but it was shorter than I expected before it tightened, so I thought I had more time to slow the car. We ran wide, touched the bank, rolled and damaged the front of the car, and had to Super Rally. It's disappointing because there's a lot of effort and motivation from everyone, and the aim now is to have more clean rallies. We know the pace is good whenever we get into a good rhythm, it's just about being able to put it all together, and we're working towards that.”
FORD FIESTA RALLY2
#29 Romet Jürgenson / Siim Oja
Having set the second-fastest time in the RC2 category during Thursday's shakedown, the Estonian pair had their sights set on a successful weekend to round out their South American debuts.
Jürgenson set the second-fastest time on SS2, moving up to fifth overall in the RC2 category with the podium positions in sight.
This positive streak came to a swift end after the pair went wide on SS3, were pulled into a ditch and rolled the car into the tree line. Extensive damage was sustained to their Ford Fiesta Rally2, and they were unable to restart the event.
A tough end to their run of events with the team in 2026, but Jürgenson takes plenty of positives from the year into the future.
Romet Jürgenson, retired Friday, said: “I had a good feeling about Chile, worked really hard on the pacenotes to make them perfect, and honestly the feeling on stage one was quite good, until we jumped a bit too far and it put the geometry off a bit. On stage three it went really wrong, there was one very tricky crest where we went wide and hit the bank and crashed quite heavily, but me and Siim are alright. We need a bit of time to recover, but we will be back for sure. It's definitely not the ending I wanted for my 2026 season with M-Sport, but all in all I think I still have to be happy and proud of the opportunity. A big thank you to Malcolm and Rich, and the whole team who have worked really hard around us to give us this experience. I think we've shown glimpses of potential, it never really clicked this year but hopefully there is something bright waiting for us in the future.”
