Armstrong was locked in an intense battle with M-Sport Ford World Rally Team stablemate Romet Jürgenson throughout Saturday’s seven tricky asphalt stages as the Pirelli-equipped Ford Fiesta Rally2 pair pulled away from the chasing pack.

Championship leader Miko Marczyk boosted his title aspirations to hold third, 20.9sec behind Armstrong as his nearest points rival, Andrea Mabellini, managed to fight back to sixth after incurring a two-minute penalty before the start of the rally when members of his team breached recce regulations.

“It was a good day, only one mistake,” said Armstrong. “Obviously it’s quite close between me and Romet which makes it a little bit easier from that side but also more difficult because you just have to keep driving with a good rhythm and not having to manage a big lead. It’s still a big day tomorrow and the weather looks like it’s going to be quite crucial.”

Armstrong kicked off the day by winning SS2 as the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver pipped Jürgenson by 0.6sec to move 0.3sec in front of overnight leader Marczyk in the overall classification.

Despite a high-speed moment, Jürgenson chalked up his maiden ERC stage win by topping the times on SS3, Y Diafol, which proved to be the most challenging stage of the loop. Jürgenson was 1.7sec faster than Armstrong, who was fortunate not to drop too much time following a half spin into a gate post after getting out of shape through an increasingly muddy right-hand turn.

The battle continued into the afternoon as Armstrong began to edge away from Jürgenson after beating the Estonian drive by 3.3sec in SS6. Jürgenson responded by cutting the lead by 1.2sec in SS7, before matching his rival’s time on the day-closing Aberystwyth town centre super special.

“It’s been a really positive day,” Jürgenson said. “It’s been a bit surprising for me to be out front with Jon but it’s positive for the future because I still don’t have much experience on these kinds of surfaces but it’s really good.”

Marczyk rounded out the morning loop by winning SS4 to move into third spot. The Polish driver maintained the position through the afternoon and began to edge away from Probite British Rally Championship leader William Creighton, who ended the day in fourth. 

“It was a long one but we need to do our job like today tomorrow,” said Marczyk, who heads Mabellini in the ERC title by four points based on the current positions and with dropped scores taken into account. “I’m focusing to take as much as possible from tomorrow, especially the Power Stage. But to get to the Power Stage I will do my best.”

Two-time Rali Ceredigion winner Osian Pryce (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) completed the day in fifth after a challenging leg that included a couple of spins, a technical issue and a lack of confidence to find the limit. 

Mabellini heads into Sunday in sixth, 1min 08.1sec behind Pryce after delivering a stoic fightback, headlined by stage wins in SS5 and SS7. The Italian driver managed to overhaul Callum Black, who slipped to seventh overall. 

ERC3 pacesetter Eamonn Kelly, ERC4 leader and local hero Ioan Lloyd, and Master ERC runner Martin Vlček rounded out the top 10.

The challenging Ceredigion stages caught out several crews, shaking up the leaderboard in the process. The Y Diafol stage, which translates from Welsh to English as The Devil, proved particularly challenging.

Meirion Evans survived a high-speed crash 0.5km from the start on the first pass. The Welshman was able to continue, albeit with brake and suspension damage to his GR Yaris Rally2, which was later fixed during midday service.

Max McRae’s rally came unstuck in SS3 when he understeered off the road on the mud-coated right-hand corner 31.9 kilometres into the 33.86-kilometre run and got stuck in a ditch. Spectators did however eventually help McRae recover, although he retired on the second pass through the stage due to suspension damage caused by hitting a bank. 

Garry Pearson was also caught out by Y Diafol as a spin and contact with a gate in the stage resulted in an early retirement from 10th spot. 

Callum Devine dropped out of fifth position after being forced to extinguish a fire that ignited in the engine bay of his MRF-equipped Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 at the end of SS4.

Philip Allen inherited fifth position ahead of Jakub Matulka, only for the rally to unravel for the pair in the second run through Y Diafol. Allen and Matulka both rolled their Michelin-shod Škodas in separate incidents, although both crews were reported as unharmed. 

JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion concludes tomorrow (Sunday) after four stages comprising 58.96 kilometres, the first of which is set to begin at 09:50 local time.