​Perez all set to take on Roger Albert Clark Rally

The 24-year-old rally and racing driver hopes that the weather conditions are tough to will help the cars strengths on the grit gruelling five-day, 350 stage mile rally across Engand, Scotland and Wales.

The #15 Amigos Sponsored Stratos has been a long-term project by dad Steve Perez, following a complete ground-up rebuild by rally experts Dansport of Chesterfield after the car was destroyed by fire on Rally Ypres in Belgium in 2018.

Seb recently won the Modena Cento Ore tarmac rally in Italy with Steve alongside in the 1975 supercar on its very first outing since the re-build.

To rally the car on gravel will be a different story but the car was successfully tested in Wales a few weeks ago and Perez junior said: “We tested the car successfully in Sweet Lamb, Wales. We did about 40 miles testing and it went really well and it sounds superb.”

Last week the car competed on the Malton Forest Rally in North Yorkshire, with Perez with his regular co-driver Gary McElhinney finishing seventh in class and 20th overall.

The RAC will be no stranger to Perez and McElhinney, as they finished the rally in second place in 2021 and hope for success this year.

It has many memories for dad Steve as well, as he has contested the Roger Albert Clark 11 times between 2005 and 2017.

The rally that recreates The famous RAC Rallies of the 1970's has been followed by the Perez family over the years, dating back to 2004 and named in honour of the famous World Rally Championship (WRC) driver of the same name who won the championship back in 1976.

Competitors are limited to vehicles released prior to 1982, and traces a route through stages in Wales, Scotland and northern England which are no longer part of the modern itinerary in rallying but were utilised in previous RAC Rallies from the 60s, 70s and 80s.

It all kicks off next Wednesday for all 175 competitors with a ceremonial start in Carmarthen Town Centre in Wales with all the day and night time action starting in the Welsh forests on the Thursday morning, for the first leg of seven stages and 38.4 miles of stages.

Leg two on Friday sees more action in Wales with a further seven stages and double the stage miles. Day three sees the rally move to Scotland with another eight special stages over 72 miles of muddy forest tracks.

Sunday’s fourth leg moves into Cumbia and Northumberland with a further six special stages and a further 87 miles. Monday’s final day sees action in and around northern England with the final stage of the rally SS33 named the Big One, a 39.2 mile long test and combination of three previous stages from earlier on in the day, finishing in Carlisle after 4:30pm.

Seb Perez said: “It's incredibly special to have it back out. It'll be really interesting on the RAC Rally.

"It's got the agility of an Escort and the power of a Porsche. Hopefully there's some snow and it's very muddy and dirty, and the Escorts will be struggling for grip as that's where we'll shine.

"It'll be nice to have the car out on the stages again, especially on this event."