Team manager praises fantastic McCormack

Marty McCormack has received praise from his team manager following his debut in a Super 2000 car on Giru di Corsica-Tour de Corse, the fourth round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, earlier this month.

PSEngineering’s Graham Clayton said McCormack, who stood in for the injured Patrik Flodin at short notice to the extent he only managed two short runs in shakedown aboard his M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000 prior to the asphalt event getting underway on 9 May, was “absolutely fantastic” after he finished 17th overall alongside co-driver David Moynihan.

Speaking to Motorsport News in McCormack’s native United Kingdom, Clayton said: “Marty was absolutely fantastic and did everything that was asked of him. He adapted to the car and the tyres really well and for him to get to the finish of his first rally in a Super 2000 car on an event like Corsica was fantastic.”

McCormack could have scored a top 10 finish had it not been for two punctures on the opening stage of day two. Nevertheless Clayton had no reason to be disappointed.

“Marty started the event 2.2s per kilometre off the pace of [defending IRC champion] Andreas Mikkelsen,” Clayton said. “By the end he got that down to 1.2s per kilometre and that is superb progress.”

McCormack is unsure when his next IRC appearance will be but he has spoken previously about his desire to contest June’s Geko Ypres Rally, possibly in the same Citroën DS3 R3T he took to victory in the IRC 2WD Cup section of the Donnelly Group Circuit of Ireland Rally, a performance that earned him the prestigious Colin McRae IRC Flat Out Trophy.

Flodin is due to make his abortive debut for PSEngineering in Ypres.