Tyre manufacturer DMACK has signed Ott Tänak to head a new top-line World Rally Championship Team in 2016.

In partnership with M-Sport, the DMACK World Rally Team will field a Ford Fiesta RS WRC for the 28-year-old Estonian on all 14 rounds, competing for the first time against the factory teams of Volkswagen and Hyundai.



Tänak and co-driver Raigo Mõlder are no strangers to DMACK having competed for the firm’s WRC 2 team in 2014. In 2011, Tänak made his world rally car debut with DMACK, finishing sixth overall on Wales Rally GB. The pair are also familiar with the Fiesta after a full season with M-Sport this year, the highlight of which was third place at LOTOS 72nd Rally Poland.



After a two-day asphalt development session in Spain last month, Tänak will take part in a cold-weather test at the start of December in preparation for the season-opening Rallye Monte Carlo.



“I’m very excited to be joining DMACK again and extremely motivated to carry on the hard work and get closer to the top," said Tanak. "We have many good memories from 2014, the team is very hard-working and I know things have moved forward even more since then. We had a tough season but the speed was there and, now that we have much more WRC experience, we will only get better in the future.



"This is a perfect programme for me, a chance to help DMACK progress and an opportunity for me to demonstrate both my and DMACK’s pace. I can’t wait to start the season in Monaco.”



Competing for a full season at the highest level of WRC sees DMACK step up its commitment to the championship and is the next phase in the company’s aim to supply a top factory team.



Dick Cormack, DMACK managing director, said: “We’ve been working on this programme for around six months as part of our three-year development plan. I genuinely believe the combination of M-Sport and Ott is the best platform to help us develop our WRC products and push for leading stage-times when the opportunity arises.



"DMACK has a clear strategy to challenge for the WRC title in the future and the only way to achieve this is to focus hard on product development and undertake a full WRC programme with the correct partners to prove our performance."

More News