Last stage agony for Chesterfield's Seb Perez in Roger Albert Clark Rally

​The 24-year-old battled the gruelling five day, 350-stage mile rally across England, Scotland and Wales and moved up the leaderboard into second place after contesting 33 special stages, but saw the historic 1975 Lancia Stratos HF GR4 rally car stop on the last stage due to an engine problem.

The car had been a labour of love for the Perez family - re-built from the ashes by Seb’s father Steve Perez after it had been destroyed by a fire in Belgium that led to Steve receiving severe burns.

Seb, Steve, and the car had been a centre of attraction before the start of the rally with BBC Look North cameras previewing the car and the event, in which Seb had previously finished second in 2021.

Thursday was the first day of action in Wales that saw Perez and co-driver Gary McElhinney take command from SS1 Crychan, finishing ninth fastest on the 10.47mile forest stage. Six stages later they were in sixth place in the rally, fifth in class and 1m:42secs off leader Oliver Solberg in his Escort.

Day two on Friday saw the rally take in many of the Welsh forest stages that had been used previously on World Rally Championships and by the end of the day Perez was lying fifth and fourth in class.

Saturday saw an overnight road journey up to Carlisle for the start of day three in the Scottish forests. SS17 Gengap 1 saw Perez tackle the 9.77miles in a time of 10:39 to take fifth fastest and put him up to fourth place.

Later in the day Perez flew through the SS21 Glencaird Hill 2 stage in darkness to finish fourth fastest and finish the day fourth overall and third in class.

Sunday’s restart in Carlisle saw the last two days centred around the forests of Cumbria and Northern England. The first few stages saw thick frost and black ice for Perez to contend with but he ended the day in third place.

News then came through that leader Solberg had retired, putting Perez into second spot and only 4m:57s off new leader Martin McCormack’s Ford Escort MkII.

The Stratos had developed a serious gearbox problem and spare parts had been brought up from Derbyshire and the Dansport team worked through the night to get the car ready for Monday morning’s re-start.

Perez and McElhinney left Carlisle chasing the leader over the five stages for the day including the last stage of the day, the 35-mile long stage SS33 The Big One, which the duo went into still in second place.

The first 25 miles went well but with ten miles left the car ground to a halt and it was game over and devastation for the pair, the water pump having failed and caused a small engine fire.

A disappointed Perez said afterwards: “It’s days like these that you really consider your choices. The car threw a few Italian moments throughout the week which we managed to sort. The gearbox problem on Sunday night saw the Dansport team work throughout the night - they have done a great job and it was so unfortunate about the cooked engine.

“There has been some buzz about the RAC this year. The reception and support we have had has been incredible.”