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Perez notches up historic Wyedean win at weekend
publication date: Feb 15, 2010
 | | © Geoff Mayes Media |
Former British National and Historic rally champion
Steve Perez finally added the prestigious Wyedean Rally to his
increasing list of successes when he took a hard fought victory on
saturday's event in the Forest of Dean.
Driving the Kick Energy-sponsored Ford Focus WRC07, along with
co-driver Paul Spooner (above), the Chesterfield driver made up for the
disappointment back in 2006 when he lost the rally by a mere three
seconds, to take a 29-second victory on the opening round of the BTRDA
rally championship.
Joint fastest on the opening stage, Perez and Spooner were never headed
throughout the day although the battle for the lead was intense and in
the first half of the event, only a handful of seconds separated Perez
from the Ford Focus of Hugh Hunter and Andy Marchbank and local aces
Nik Elsmore and Nige Gardner in their Mitsubishi.
After SS4, Perez's lead was just six seconds but a push on the second
loop saw him increase his advantage significantly and after setting a
consecutive fifth fastest stage time on SS5 in Speech House, Perez
rolled off the gas ever so slightly on the final two tests to seal the
win.
"I've been trying to win this rally for a long time so today is a
special day. We were using the rally to test different tyres and it was
very close between Hugh and I until he had a spin in SS5 and that
allowed us a bit of a cushion going into the last two stages. This is a
great start to the season and as I've registered for the BTRDA series,
it also means I'm leading the championship," said Steve.
Both Steve and Paul will next be in action in just two weeks' time when
they contest the opening round of the 2010 MSA Gravel Rally
Championship which takes place with the Poole-based Rallye Sunseeker. |
2010 GMF Motor Factors Wyedean Forest Rally
| 1 Steve Perez/Paul Spooner | Ford Focus WRC07 | 0:42:33 | | 2 Hugh Hunter/Andy Marchbank | Ford Focus | 0:43:02 | | 3 Nik Elsmore/Nige Gardner | Mitsubishi EVO 9 | 0:43:23 | | 4 Roger Chilman/Andrew Sankey | Subaru Impreza | 0:44:17 | | 5 Shaun Gardener/Ben Innes | Mitsubishi Lancer | 0:44:19 | | 6 Damian Cole/Craig Drew | Hyundai Accent WRC | 0:44:20 | | 7 James Belton/Eurig Evans | Subaru Impreza WRC | 0:44:55 | | 8 John Lloyd/Adrian Cavenagh | Ford Focus WRC | 0:45:21 | | 9 Andrew Barnes/Guy Simmons | Ford Focus WRC | 0:46:04 | | 10 Tristan Bailey/James How | Mitsubishi EVO 9 | 0:46:19 |
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