by Geoff Mayes
Stephen Petch Junior is looking forward to competing on gravel again after a busy couple of weeks of competing on tarmac based rallies, and will be hoping for a good run on this weekends Mid Wales based Severn Valley Rally.
Less than a fortnight after finishing third in class on the Manx National Rally Petch and co-driver Michael Wilkinson ran as course car in a Group N Subaru Impreza on the
Jim Clark International Rally in Scotland. The pair will now return to the cockpit of their SG Petch Motorsport run Hyundai Accent World Rally Car for their first trip to Wales this year.
Petch is currently tied with Andy Burton for second position in Class B13 in the Pirelli Gravel Rally Championship and will be aiming to consolidate his position this weekend, aware that there are a number of local drivers who could also be a threat.
The Manx was interesting as I'd never driven the car on tarmac before but I'm glad we're back on the loose stuff now, he said. We'll hopefully get a bit of a test in ahead of the rally, and as I've gone well on this event before I'll be hoping for a good run this weekend.
I know that the likes of Julian Reynolds will be pretty rapid so we aim to just go at our own pace and try not to make any silly errors.
The 2008 Severn Valley National Rally starts from Builth Wells in Mid Wales at 8 am on Saturday 31 May. The competitors then tackle over 60 stage miles broken into eight of the world renowned Mid Wales forest stages, including the likes of Crychan and Halfway, before returning to the finish at around 5pm.
