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County Durham rally driver Stephen Petch Junior was just relieved to make the finish of last weekends RBS International Manx Rally, the fact that he brought his SG Petch Motorsport run Mitsubishi Evo 9 home fifth in class was a bonus.
Stephen, co-driven as ever by Michael Wilkinson, eased himself into the rally with a cautious start on Friday night. After having to contend with rain early on the weather grew worse as night fell and with both a misfire and fog proving a hindrance, Stephen was just glad to complete the opening 5 stages.
The SG Petch Motorsport pairing began the second day just outside the top 10 in class but with the weather clearing and the misfire cured Stephen had the confidence to push. A string of top times throughout the course of the day saw the pair steadily climb the leader board. By lunch time they were up to seventh in class and, apart from a ‘moment’ approaching a chicane, were enjoying their day. The afternoon went even better and the pair were overjoyed to return to the ceremonial finish at the TT Grandstands fifth in the Evo Challenge and 28th overall.
A happy Stephen said: “This is our ninth visit to the island and only our third finish so we were both just relieved to cross the finish line. We had a trying first few stages with a misfire, misting windscreen and lots of fog but Saturday was so much better and we really enjoyed ourselves! This result has really helped us out in the championship, and I won the junior award as well.
Stephens next competitive outing will be the Severn Valley Rally on the 2nd of June but before then he might be on course car duties on the forthcoming Jim Clark Rally.