Chesterfield father and son team take race honours

The dynamic duo took first place historic class win and second overhaul in the rally.

The event was an emotional outing for Dad Steve it being his first time in a rally car in two and a half years since the tragic refuelling zone accident in a service area in Belgium on Rally Ypres in June 2018.

The Chesterfield Casa Hotel entrepreneurs Lancia Stratos became engulfed in flames and he sustained serious burns from the ordeal.

The Rally Sprint, one of Spain’s most prestigious motorsport events took place on the roads above the traditional rural towns of Sineu and Santa Margalida in the centre of the island.

It comprised of 2 special stages that were run three time during the day to see at the end who was fastest and an array of modern and historic rally cars on the entry list.

Steve opted out of the driving seat to take control of the pace notes and direct son Seb around the long twisty country stages, a challenge in itself as Steve hadn’t done much of this job before as his forte was rally driving.

Rally driving is not new to the pair, Perez junior started competing in the Kick Energy Junior 1000 Rally Championship at the wheel of a Nissan Micra rally car back in 2013 before moving to circuit racing a year later progressing through the ranks from a successful Ginetta Junior into Ginetta GT4 and GT5 cars and then onto the Porsche Carrera Cup GB.

Steve’s roll of honour after around 30 years in motorsport includes him becoming a 4 times British National Rally Champion and 2014 BTRDA Gold Star Rally Champion, an accolade of victories on various rallies on the tarmac and gravel both in the UK and Europe too

The pair were out in the usual classic Dansport-prepared Amigos Tequila Beer sponsored 1974 Porsche 911 RS a car within its own right that attracted a lot of attention on the rally.

The first Rally Sprint stage was Llubi to Santa Margalida, a 10.38km sprint along twisty narrow tarmac roads to be competed three times along with the other 72 cars in the event.

The first run over the Balearic tarmac saw them finish the trial in second place to top team of David García and Guillermo Cuart in a modern day Porsche 911 GT3, The tables turned for the second outing where the Perez boys took first slot in a time of 5mins 3secs only by a margin of 0.10secs to García and Cuart, a game of cat and mouse started with them taking the final run on the stage to first place.

Next up was stage two and 3 runs of the 12.4km Santa Margalida – Muro – Sineu Rally Sprint, again the boys were on it, but again just off the pace for the first two runs seeing them pipped again at the post by García and Cuart by 0.70 and 0.50 seconds off top spot. The last run saw Son and Dad take 6th place on stage after encountering some gearbox issues.

Seb Perez commented after the experience “ It was really nice to get back out in the historic Porsche with my dad as co-driver, my trusted Dad behind the pace notes and the car ran great up until the last run of Santa Margalida where we had a gearbox problem”

Steve Perez added to his first taste of rallying for two and a half years said: “It really makes me appreciate what a difficult and responsible job co-drivers do! It was a big challenge getting into a rally car after my accident but a good way of facing the demons.

"It would have been easier if I had gone with someone a bit slower, but well done Seb your driving was amazing”