Miko Marczyk finished third at ERC Rali Ceredigion and remains at the top spot in the championship standings ahead of the season finale. The battle for the European title will come down to the last round in Croatia.
The fight for the FIA European Rally Championship crown will be decided between Miko Marczyk, Andrea Mabellini, and Jon Armstrong. These three were already the main contenders heading into the British round, but the event didn’t settle the title fight—if anything, it made it even more intense.
Marczyk may have extended his lead over Mabellini, but Armstrong closed in on the Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 duo thanks to his British victory. The title fight will now come down to the final round in Croatia, where, despite only the best seven scores from eight counting towards the championship, no one can afford to play it safe—everyone will have to drive at full throttle.
That was already the case in Britain, although Mabellini started with a huge handicap. “The weekend started badly with a two-minute time penalty. But we showed everyone we were really fast—we gave it everything!” commented the Italian driver. He proved his pace right away by setting the fastest time in Friday’s superspecial, though with the penalty applied, it was Marczyk who officially won the stage and ended the opening day in the lead, while Mabellini was left at the bottom of the standings.
However, Marczyk only enjoyed the lead in the competition overnight —he lost it in Saturday’s opening stage. The Polish driver seemed to struggle for rhythm at first and temporarily slipped to fourth overall. From stage four onwards, however, he was back on the pace and consistently among the fastest. Still, it wasn’t enough to match his rivals, and he had to settle for third place at the finish.
Mabellini, on the other hand, showed strong pace as he climbed through the order. After stage seven—the penultimate of Saturday—he and co-driver Virginia Lenzi had reached sixth place. But they were already more than a minute behind the next competitor, which proved too much to make up over the remaining five tests.
In total, Mabellini demonstrated his speed in Britain by winning four of the 12 stages—just one fewer than overall winner Armstrong. He was also fastest on the final power stage, scoring valuable points.
Marczyk highlighted his consistency: he finished among the top five on 11 stages, with his “worst” result being sixth. By comparison, runner-up Jürgenson dropped outside the top five twice, while Mabellini did so four times. Armstrong was the only driver to stay inside the top five on every stage of the rally.
“The season finale in Croatia will be a really tight fight for the title,” said Marczyk at the finish. On paper, he holds a 15-point advantage over Mabellini. But because only seven results count, the picture changes: Marczyk has scored in all seven rounds so far, with his lowest being 13 points from Rally Scandinavia. Mabellini, meanwhile, has a zero from Hungary. Taking this into account, the gap shrinks to just two points (133 vs 131). With 35 points still up for grabs in Croatia, challenger Armstrong also remains firmly in contention.
