Christmas came early for Jon Armstrong and co-driver Shane Byrne when the pair was announced as teammates to Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy in the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 2026 lineup.
Both McErlean, who enters his sophomore year in the WRC’s top flight, and Armstrong enjoy the backing of Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy.
After winning the ERC3 title in 2023, Armstrong enjoyed a solid season in the top tier of the European Rally Championship, earning his first podiums in Poland and the Czech round before dominating in Wales to claim a maiden victory which was followed by another win in Croatia.
“Further announcements on M-Sport’s remaining line-up will be made soon,” says M-Sport Ford. Hopefully, that means they’re sourcing funding to run Martins Sesks…The news confirms Grégoire Munster has lost his factory drive, but he has been exploring options in WRC2. DirtFish understands Mãrtiņš Sesks could receive a similar, part-time program to 2025.
While expressing his pleasure at retaining McErlean, Richard Millener, M-Sport Ford team principal was enthusiastic about his new signing.
“It’s very exciting to see Jon and Shane get the opportunity to make the step-up to Rally1 machinery with us. I’m genuinely eager to see how they progress throughout 2026. Jon’s been working towards this opportunity for a long time now, and his strong ERC performances at the end of last season made it impossible to ignore him. I’d like to thank the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy for their support throughout the 2025 season, and I look forward to developing our partnership further as we head into 2026.”
Josh McErlean said: “I’m absolutely thrilled to be confirmed with M-Sport for the 2026 WRC season, and I’m incredibly grateful for the continued support from both the team and the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy. We made real progress throughout 2025, and I’m excited to build on everything we learned and put it into action next year.”
For Armstrong, it is a dream come true. “I’m obviously very grateful for the opportunity to drive a Rally1 car. It’s something I’ve worked towards from a very young age, so to actually be able to compete in the top tier of rallying is definitely a dream come true. Of course, there have been years where things didn’t go our way and we weren’t sure if it would ever happen, but we’ve had a very strong season in ERC, showed our potential, and naturally you then want to see what you can do in the World Rally Championship.
“I’m very happy and extremely grateful to M-Sport, who I’ve been driving with for most of my rally career, and also to the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy – without them we definitely wouldn’t be here. We’re really looking forward to the year ahead. There are going to be a lot of good times and definitely some challenges, but I think we’ve shown that we can rise to those challenges, so we just need to stay strong, enjoy it, and keep pushing forward.”
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