While tyre firm Michelin celebrated victory on Philips Rally Argentina last week, rival make DMACK scored its best finish in the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia when Martin Prokop took fourth overall on the gravel round.
Prokop’s performance also marked his highest score in the WRC and improves upon DMACK’s previous best finish on Wales Rally GB in November 2011 when Ott Tanak claimed sixth place. Prokop, like Tanak was driving a Ford Fiesta RS WRC.
DMACK nominated its DMG+ gravel tyre in a soft compound, which proved ideal for the cold and damp conditions experienced on the Villa Carlos Paz-based event, the longest in this year’s world championship at 503 competitive kilometres.
“This was so much more than we expected,” said Prokop, who was selected to drive the DMACK-supported Autotek Fiesta in place of the Finnish driver Jari Ketomaa. “My main aim for the weekend was to get to the finish and help DMACK develop the tyres. We pushed when it was comfortable and I’m very happy to secure a fourth for DMACK and myself.”
DMACK motorsport director Dick Cormack added: “This result really highlights the potential of our gravel tyre and Martin has done an exceptional job. We took a slight gamble by nominating our soft compound but it’s been the perfect choice for the conditions and the durability on this extra-long event has been really impressive. However, the tyre has also performed well, allowing Martin to post some fast times.”