Chesterfield's Seb Perez takes top six finish in Mid-Wales rally

Perez, 22, with his long term navigator Motorsport Ireland’s Gary McElhanney by his side, finished in eighth spot in the National Rally classification despite rolling the #116 Franklin and Son sponsored Ford Escort MK2 RS1800, prepared by Chesterfield’s Dansport.

Supported by Presteigne Tyre Service and Phil Price Rally School, the Sixty and Worcestershire Motor Club organised loose surface stage rally is one of the most popular events on the British rallying calendar and attracted a bumper entry of 166 competitors as it returned to its traditional Ludlow Racecourse base with over 44 competitive stage miles.

To enable all cars to enjoy the best road conditions, two-wheel drive crews ran the stages first in reverse seeded order before the heavy-hitting four-wheel drive machinery and that’s where the battle for the British Historic Rally Championship began.

The rally was no newcomer to the Perez family, as dad Steve Perez won the event in his WRC Ford Focus in 2010 and Perez junior was hoping to follow in his father’s race boots.

The rally started and finished at Ludlow Racecourse and was based around Haye Park and Radnor Forest in the Welsh Marches and comprised of six special stages.

Special stage one Haye Park 1 saw Perez fly through the spectator stage to take sixth fastest in class with a time of 9:50s over the 8.76 mile tarmac and rough tracks.

The move into Radnor Forest saw SS2 Cwm y Gerwyn 1, 5.7 miles of World Rally standard forest rally track and again Perez was in it. He blasted the stage in 6 minutes 23 seconds making the Escort with the dynamic duo finish only one place up from the first stage in seventh place

SS 3 Stanlo Trump 1, a fast and twisty forest stage of 7.25 miles in length, with its famous “Perez Corner” where father Steve Perez rolled a few years back. Perez and McElhanney were on form.

They finished the stage in sixth place despite a soft roll, remarkably in the same place as his father did. Both driver and co-driver were fine and lost little time and remained within the stage limit.

They still managed to take sixth fastest in class.

An apprehensive Dansport Team awaited at the Service Halt at Ludlow for Perez to return, to assess the damage from the roll and it was all hands on deck with a hammer or two to knock the dented roof out and replace the cracked windscreen.

All was well and it was game on for Perez and McElhanney, the afternoon’s session was a rerun of the morning stages and they were hoping to make up the time from his mid-morning off into the bushes.

SS4 was back to the packed spectator stage at Haye Park, they finished in eighth place and slightly slower that the morning’s opening encounter but were still on pace.

SS5 Cwm y Gerwyn 2 saw the pair blast the Escort through the torn up and rutted forest tracks to finish only 43 seconds off number one slot on the road. They completed the 5.7 miles in a time six minutes and 19 seconds.

Last stage of the day was SS 6 Stanlo Trump 2, there was an air of caution in the car for them both as it was a re-run of the 7.23 mile morning stage and both didn’t want another excursion into the side of the forest track and tree line. They took the stage with a time of 7 minutes 8 seconds and faster than the morning session to take sixth fastest.

It was time to get back to the ceremonial finish at Ludlow Racecourse, they crossed the ramp to take a sixth in class and eighth in the National Rally, only two minutes off the number one slot taken by Henri Grehan and Dan Petrie in a similar Ford Escort.

Afterwards Seb said: “I’m really happy and it was a great result, I really enjoyed getting out in the Escort despite a small mishap on SS3, that obviously runs in the family.

"A great big thanks to the Dansport Team for getting us going again the usual first class support.”