ARMSTRONG IN R5 RETURN WITH DIRT RALLY GAME

Reigning World Rally Championship esports champion Jon Armstrong will return to competition for the first time in 16 months on the Galway International Rally in a Ford Fiesta R5 as part of his work with the DIRT video game.

Armstrong – who impressed on two prize outings in a DMACK Ford Fiesta R5 in the 2017 WRC2 series – hasn’t competed since Rally Spain of that year.

Codemasters, the company behind the new DIRT game – which is released on February 26 this year – is backing Armstrong in a Derek Mcgarrity-run Fiesta R5 in the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship season opener.

“I think it will be a really good talking point for the game, when people see the DIRT name on the side of the car,” said Armstrong, who will be partnered by usual navigator Noel O’sullivan on the event.

“It’s really nice they see the value in me doing the rally and being the face of the game. It’s going to be interesting to see how the community of gamers respond to it and I think they will respect the company even more when they see they are actively taking part in a rally.”

The Northern Irish driver has been key in developing the new game – alongside East African Safari winner Ryan Champion – which is supposed to perform more like a simulator, closely mirroring reality. The franchise is a continuation of the famous

Colin Mcrae Rally games. Armstrong is hopeful of fighting at the front and that the outing could spawn more rallying in reality this year.

“It’s a one-off at the minute,” he added.

“If the first one goes well, it would be hard not to try and get the budget together and do some more. Hopefully I’ll get a test before the rally to get up to speed.

“I don’t know what to expect. I could be a bit rusty, but hopefully doing esports has kept the competitive mindset active.

“There’s 25 R5 cars and a good scope of people to compare ourselves to, like Craig Breen.”