Dmack tyres on 3 Fiesta R5 WRC crews

Tyre supplier to the FIA World Rally Championship Dmack has been chosen as the first fitment to three of the five new Ford Fiesta R5s built by M-Sport debuting on the Neste Oil Rally Finland next month. Local driver Jari Ketomaa and Norwegian Eyvind Brynildsen in Autotek-run Fiesta R5s wrapped in Dmack 2013 livery, and Robert Barrable from Dublin, Ireland in his CA1 Sport Fiesta plan to line up at the start of the event in Jyvaskyla with Dmack’s DMG+2 gravel tyre. Dmack, a brand manufactured in China by Shandong Yongtai and developed over the past few years in tandem with Carlisle-based Dick Cormack, faces stiff competition from the other WRC tyre supplier, Michelin. Dmack launched a range of passenger car and commercial vehicle tyres through a number of global distribution partners in 2012.

Ketomaa will contest his home rally after tasting success with Dmack earlier this year when he took a dominant victory on the second round of the FIA European Rally Championship in Latvia. Brynildsen has also had a recent victory, winning the South Swedish Rally in early May in his Group N Mitsubishi. Both drivers will undertake a pre-event test to get fully up to speed with the new car and the traditionally high-speed gravel roads that will face them in Finland.

Barrable, meanwhile, made his WRC debut at Rally Portugal in April where he finished 11th overall and second in WRC2 using Dmack tyres.

The new R5 regulations aim to lower the cost of competition at the top levels of the sport, and Dmack makes the point that it too entered the WRC with a similar ethos. The Dmack crews will face stiff competition in Finland with over 20 WRC2 entries planned for the event.

Dick Cormack, Dmack motorsport director, said: “The new Ford Fiesta R5 looks extremely impressive and the R5 category has attracted a huge interest from many top private teams and competitors. Its cost reduction strategy fits perfectly with Dmack’s culture of delivering affordable motorsport tyres and it’s extremely encouraging to see most of the R5 crews in Finland choosing to run with DMACK for the WRC debut of the new machine.”

Jari Ketomaa said: “It will be great to be one of the drivers to establish R5 cars in WRC level. They are expected to be very competitive so that gives us a good stepping-stone to fight for victory in Rally Finland. The new Dmack tyres are a good step forward from last year’s gravel tyre. The grip and braking levels have improved and now I have a good feeling with the tyre all the way through the corner. That gives great confidence for a driver to push which is very important in a race like Finland.”

Eyvind Brynildsen said: “Finland is a great rally – fans, the atmosphere and the stages are all unbelievable. I have done more than 30 rallies in the World Rally Championship but with the new Fiesta R5 and Dmack’s new tyre, this will be one of the most exciting events for me. There are a lot of good drivers in the WRC2, from the results of the other rallies we can see they are strong. But it’s our time to show some results now and we hope we can do it in Finland.”

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