It was a tough event for Steve Perez and Paul Spooner as they took third in class K on the opening round of the Mintex MSA British Historic Rally Championship, the Red Kite Stages.
The crew had to contend with icy and slippery conditions as they guided their Lancia Stratos around the stages.
Their event got off on the wrong foot as a spin on the first corner of the first stage resulted in the crew getting stuck. Perez managed to get going again but lost a lot of time.
Stage 2 was cancelled for safety reasons as the weather conditions made the test undriveable, that left the crew with four stages to make up the lost time.
It was a steady run for Perez but his pace gradually improved as the day went on brining the reliable Stratos home almost two and half minutes down on class winner Jason Pritchard.
“Unfortunately we spun and got stuck on the first corner of the first stage and lost maybe 45 seconds,” said Perez at the rally finish in Llandovery.
“Our times then got better as the day progressed and the ice and snow cleared away, but we struggled to get the right tyres for the car in these conditions.
“It was a tough day to get through as the ice really doesn’t suit the car because it just wants to swap ends all the time! It is very difficult to drive on ice and snow. It was much better later in the rally and we were getting onto the pace.”
The next round of the championship takes competitors to the Mid Wales Stages on March 1st.
