Prokop in for Ketomaa in Argentina

Martin Prokop will replace Jari Ketomaa in Autotek Motorsport’s DMACK-equipped Ford Fiesta RS WRC on Philips Rally Argentina next week.

Ketomaa, from Finland, had been due to contest round five of the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia with DMACK support but Prokop has been recruited by the Anglo-Chinese tyre firm instead following his career-best fifth place finish on Vodafone Rally de Portugal earlier this month and his previous strong performances in South America.

“The tyres worked well in testing and after a few kilometres it felt really good,” said Czech Republic ace Prokop. “I’m hoping for wet conditions on the rally as I think we could have a small advantage. You saw last year at Rally GB what good times Ott Tanak was setting on DMACK but I will only drive the car for the first time at free practice. But if you make a clever rally without any mistakes than a very good result can be possible as the rally is very long.”

DMACK has nominated its soft compound gravel tyre for the event, which is designed for cooler temperatures and could be advantageous in the event of wet and muddy conditions due to its tread pattern being more open.

“The surfaces in Argentina are traditionally much softer than other gravel events and if the weather conditions are similar to last year then we will have made a very good nomination for all our runners,” said DMACK motorsport director Dick Cormack. “We’ve also got the advantage of the new rules allowing a small amount of non-nominated compound to be used and that gives us the opportunity to use our hard compound on the long 65-kilometre stage if we need to. Our tread pattern is also more open this year and that will work well if it’s wet and muddy. We are confident Martin can do a good job for us.”