From Circuit to Rally for Perez
Chesterfield’s Ginetta race ace car driver Seb Perez swapped from circuit to forest tracks last weekend with a return back to his grass roots in motorsport when he competed in Dayinsure Wales Rally GB.
Perez who finished tenth overhaul in Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup Championship 2017 last month took to the wheel of a Ford Escort Mk2 to compete amongst over 88 entries in the national event and a round of the FIA World Rally Championship that it ran alongside.
Perez with co-driver Steve Smith wasted no time getting used to the very slippery Welsh forest stages and gained vast experience during the three day event that started last Friday from the Ceremonial Rally Start in Chester.
The real rally got to grips on Saturday morning at Deeside and saw them tackle the first World Rally 1.12 mile stage at Cholmondelly Castle, first of 8 special rally stages throughout the day and Sunday.
47th car off the start line saw the Cholmondelly stage to be very slippery for their first encounter on gravel as well as part tarmac apart from testing and practice before the rally started a few weeks ago, they finished the stage 50th and a top ten class position around 13 seconds behind the leader
The rest of Saturday saw them into the Welsh forests that usually prove very demanding and had all seen before them the World Rally car rip the surface up making it difficult in places The next 3 stages were Aberhirnant, Dyfnant and by the end of Gartheiniog stage the going was tough but didn’t stop the dynamic duo finishing in 28th place..
Next up was SS13 Dyfi another very well known rally stage from the RAC Rally days that had caught out many World Rally driver in its time, not for Perez and Smith who were going from Strength to strength finishing the stage in 25th place and fourth in class to return to the Deeside Service Area for the overnight rest before further mud soaked racing on Sunday morning. Only 8 seconds parted them from rally leader Thomas Preston and Andrew Roughead in their Skoda Fabia R5
Sunday saw three more demanding tricky forest rally stages, first up was Gwydir, making up a further two places and in 23rd place and by the end of the last two stages of Alwen and Brenig the young Chesterfield pair passed over the Llandudno finish in 22nd and 4th in their class of car
Perez commented afterwards ” we both really enjoyed the event, it was very different to what I have been used too, we progressed from stage to stage bearing in mind the stages had been used by the WRC cars earlier and some of the stages showed big signs of wear and tear”
He added ” we kept the car where it was going in some slippery conditions gaining places on every stage and foumd it useful for the forthcoming outing on the Roger Albert Clark Rally in a couple of weeks time”
Later this month (10-13 November) both Seb and Father Steve Perez tackle the Roger Albert Clark Rally based around the forests of Kielder, Scotland and the Lake District.
Both sponsored by dads Chesterfield’s Global Brands business and Amigos Tequila Flavoured Beer, sees Seb in a Ford Escort again and Steve in his European Rally winning classic Lancia Stratos
Motor sport is no stranger to Perez Jnr, son of 2014 BTRDA Gold Star Rally Champion Steve Perez, Seb 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.
Currently Perez Junior is eyeing up opportunities for the 2018 racing season as well and has been seen behind the wheel testing at Donington Park last week in a Porsche Carrera GT race car
