Michelin has returned to the World Rally Championship in Sweden, providing its X-Ice North tyre to Mikko Hirvonen, who produced what Michelin termed "a practically mistake-free performance to claim a fine win for Ford Abu Dhabi WRT and the brand new Fiesta RS WRC". The manufacturer was pleased with the tyre's performance in challenging, varied conditions. Falling snow greeted the early stages, while on others portions of gravel gradually became exposed as the cars cut through the icy coating. Michelin said the tyres "were still equipped with practically all their [384] studs at the ends of the long looping stages" Current WRC regulations only permit manufacturers to run one type of tyre per rally. Meanwhile Chinese-manufactured brand Dmack Tyres shod Czech driver Martin Semerad to seal what the company termed "a dream start", winning in the production car category (PWRC). In the S2000 category Martin Prokop also secured second place on Dmack rubber.
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