Northern Ireland’s Jon Armstrong dominated Rally Croatia but missed out on the European Rally Championship title.
The M-Sport driver, who won his first ERC event in Wales at the previous round, led from the first stage to take a commanding win in Croatia by 45.7 seconds from ex-WRC driver Mads Ostberg.
To have an outside chance of claiming the title, Armstrong needed to win the rally and secure maximum points in the power stage – and duly delivered – but leader Mikolaj Marczyk finished third to secure the championship.
“What an event,” said Armstrong. “Today we had to be controlled in treacherous conditions and we are fastest on the Power Stage, we couldn’t do much more.”