John Stone will be looking to recapture the 2004 glory which saw him take the North West Stages Rally driving a MG Metro 6R4, this time he will be using a Ford Fiesta 2.5S which will see Welsh co-driver Carl Williamson join him after a successful shakedown at the Jack Frost Stages.
Stone took victory in 2004 and has been back on the podium since but he is looking to target the top spot again on the event his company sponsors.
“We’ve not enjoyed the best of luck in recent years for whatever reason and we just couldn’t buy a result on the event in the Skoda it would seem so the plan is to make up for lost time.” said Stone who saw an under-bonnet fire put him out of the 2015 event.
“The new Ford Fiesta is a brilliant car and we had a good shakedown at Croft so we are hopeful we can put our bad luck behind us and have a good run. There are plenty of good drivers in fast cars once again so it’s going to be tough, but the plan is to get to the finish on the podium, and hopefully the top step. Carl says he’s paying for the celebrations if we do so that’s reason enough!” he added
The Legend Fires North West Stages Rally gets underway from the Norbreck Castle Hotel at 18.30 on Friday with a loop of stages totalling around ten miles, including on Blackpool Promenade in the dark before restarting at 08.10 the following day with around another 65 miles before the finish in Blackpool at 18.00
For further information on the rally visit www.nwstages.co.uk