|
 |
|
|
|
|
Perez Overcomes High Speed Off To Claim 11th On Rally Boucles De Spa
Triple British champion Steve Perez overcame the treacherous conditions and a high speed off to record a superb 11th place finish overall on this weekend's 2013 Legend Boucles de Spa.
|
|
|
Driving the iconic 1974 Amigos Tequila-flavoured beer branded Lancia Stratos on the prestigious Belgian event, Perez, from Chesterfield, and Swedish co-driver Staffan Parmander, were hoping to add more success following their recent victory on the Hadeland Historic Rally Norway last month but on the opening stage, they went off at high speed as Steve explained:
"We were flat out over a crest and doing around 130kph I reckon when we suddenly came across this chicane which wasn't there when we did the recce. We hit it hard which spun us round and did quite a lot of damage to the front of the car which is why it looked in a sorry state on the televised stage!"
With running repairs effected by Tim Ashton's BTR team, Steve continued to climb the leaderboard through the remaining daylight stages and into the night before reaching the finish in an impressive 11th place overall leaving the 2003 British Historic, 2004 National ANCRO and 2010 BTRDA champion happy with the result:
"This is very much a local affair and last time we were here, we didn't get very far so most of the stages were new to me so I'll settle for mixing it with them. When you consider that stars of the WRC past and present contest this rally, 11th overall and third in class isn't a disgrace especially when I've been beaten by the likes of Francois Duval, Stefaan Stouf and Mark Duez. I was even matching Mikka Hirvonen's times until he went out and was only six seconds off a top ten placing so it's a reasonable result."
The BTR team had another reason to celebrate when the Kick Energy-sponsored Ford Focus WRC of Charlie Payne and Craig Thorley took a third consecutive victory on today's Procters Coaches Riponian Stages Rally held in North Yorkshire. It takes Payne's victory tally to eight in total on his local event.
PaddockTalk Perspective
|
|
|
Also in WRC Rally News 2010: |
|
| |
|
