​Podium spot for Seb Perez in Spanish rally

The 23-year-old rally and racing star was back on form, he took to the wheel of his classic Dansport-prepared Amigos Tequila Beer 1974 Porsche 911 RS, with regular navigator Gary McElhinney by his side.

Seb’s dad, renowned rally driver and Chesterfield Global Brands Drinks boss and entrepreneur Steve Perez and his co-driver Paul Spooner were also competing in a favourite of both Seb and himself, the Franklin and Son-sponsored Ford Escort MK2 RS1800, also prepared by Chesterfield’s Dansport.

The dynamic British / Irish duo of Seb and Gary are no stranger to the Spanish tarmac roads and over the last few years have chalked up some impressive results there.

Over the past three outings of competing in Rally Sol de Ponent, Perez’s juniors performance has improved from in 2018 finishing 11th with Dad Steve finishing 6th, then in 2019 taking a well-earned 4th slot, and in 2020, the last time he competed, he finished in second place.

This year the pair were on it from the start, determined to make their mark on the entry of 50 cars over the 79.58km, ten asphalt stages. They were one of only three British crews to enter that saw them finish with some fast stage times to complement the event.

Out of the 50 competing cars, most were modern day rally machines, easier to drive and handle than the Perez pair’s classic Porsche and Escort.

Seb and Gary only dropped out of the top five fastest time rankings once over the whole contest on stage three, finishing sixth, and they took fastest on the last stage of the day.

The first stage of the day could have been better for them, taking second fastest and 16 seconds adrift on the leader and rally winner David Antonio Garcia in a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car.

Seb got faster on each stage, seeing him blast though the 3.90km last stage SS10 Saint Elm-S’Arraco (corto) with a time of 02:28.0 seconds.

Dad Steve and Paul Spooner finished the event in 13th spot and taking second in class, an excellent result getting to grips with the Escort, and as the event went on got faster and faster.

Next up on the calendar for Seb and Gary is the Rally Clasico Isla Mallorca, which takes place over three days from 11-13 March, where their challenge will be for an overall victory, again competing in the Porsche.

After the weekend’s rally, Seb said: “It was really good fun and a great result. Some of stages were in our favour – being in a wide car against narrower and more modern rivals. That got us into the mix and then we had a bit of a loss on stage three as some of the roads were very tight and twisty.

“I used the power of the Porsche on the open sections during the last few stages. We had a great battle until the end, with winner Garcia in a Porsche and Frau in a Mini Rallye N2.

“It was good fun and this rally was more of a test for the Classic in a few weeks’ time, so we’re ready for that.

“The top class for the Classic is all three-litre cars like mine, which means we’ll all lose time in the same places, so it will be closer throughout the event. I won the event last year and let’s hope we can do it again.”