Mayo husband and wife team debut Ford Fiesta R5 at National Rally Championships

HUSBAND and wife team John Warren and Ruthann O’Connor are synonymous with motorsport success in their instantly recognizable McHale Fusion 4 Plus Toyota Corolla, so much so it has earned the title of ‘Green Machine’ throughout the length and breadth of the country.

But on Sunday last the motorsport world embraced a change from the norm as the Mayo couple debuted a Ford Fiesta R5 at Birr Stages Rally, the third round of the National Rally Championships.

The Ford Fiesta R5 is a rally car specially built by M-Sport (M-Sport is a UK motorsport engineering company) and based upon the Ford Fiesta ST road car. It was the first car homologated under the International motorsport R5 regulations that were introduced back in 2013. The Fiesta R5 has competed in the World Rally Championship, European Rally Championship and various national competitions worldwide since then.

“It was just time for a change,” Warren said, still smiling from ear to ear after the event.

“Following numerous conversations with our employer and main supporter (McHale) where they suggested to see if it was possible. They were eager to push the idea to see was this was something that could materialize; I had never driven a 4wd rally car competitively and along with Ruthann’s eagerness to try out the level of one of the most successful cars in the motorsport world, the idea became reality. We did a quick test in the car in the middle of last week and felt straight away like I was comfortable. It’s a different style of driving compared to laying on it in the Corolla, but it just felt good from the word go!.”

Ruthann was also quick to add: “R5 cars, they really are as good as everybody says they are! That Fiesta was just sensational. OK, it’s not the latest, most up-to-date car, but it was pretty unreal to be honest.”

Speaking about how the actual event went on Sunday, John said: “Throughout the event I could feel the confidence coming with the car. Obviously it was hard to know the limits straight away and the last thing we wanted to do was to make a mistake.

“Looking back there were times when I felt we could have gone quicker, but, like I said, it wasn’t about that. But the experience of the car and the conditions is the much bigger take-away from today. We had an absolute blast and I want to say a big thanks to Niall McGonigle from IN Sport for the hire of the car and McHale’s for supporting us this weekend.”

While Josh Moffett and Keith Moriarty took a start to finish victory on the event in their Citroen C3 Rally2 car, it was the appearance of John and Ruthann’s finish in 15th place overall from over 165 cars that started the event that really raised eyebrows.

When asked afterwards was this a once off drive in R5 machinery, John replied: “While the original Green machine Corolla is not for sale - just yet - judging by the reaction of the public at the weekend and the views on the McHale Rallying TikTok account we feel it would be a shame not to try and wrap a deal together and fusion another day out.”