With no opportunity to test ahead of his first ever tarmac rally in the car Stephen opted for a cautious start but still picked up a puncture in the opening stage, dropping 10 seconds to the leaders. Playing around with the setup of the car to try and find the perfect balance saw Stephen on the fringes of the top 10 for most of the evening as he enjoyed his first experience of the car on through the high speed lanes, calling it a big go kart.

Saturday morning saw Stephen on the pace of defending champion Marcus Dodd but then, running through a notoriously tricky section in Stage 7 Stephen out braked himself on a sharp corner and slid off through a gate, which was fortunately open, and into a field. Although there was no damage to the car it cost him over 30 seconds as he struggled to engage reverse gear. A mis-fire later in the morning also cost time but a string of top 15 times showed a level of consistency as Stephen focused on bringing the car home in one piece.

“I really enjoyed this rally. I always seem to go well on the Manx as the stages suit my driving style and this year was no exception. We struggled with a lack of pre event testing and had to work on the setup as the rally progressed, but we were on the pace of Marcus which is encouraging. The car is great fun to drive on tarmac but I’m really glad it was a dry rally.”

After three rounds of the 2008 MSA Pirelli Gravel Rally Championship Stephen and co-driver Michael Wilkinson find themselves lying third in the Class B13 standings, behind only Marcus Dodd and Andy Burton… pretty impressive company.

The SG Petch Motorsport team will next be in action in two weeks time on the Jim Clark Rally. Stephen changes cars and will run as course car in a Production class Subaru Impreza whilst his father, Steve senior, will take to the wheel of the Hyundai Accent and contest the Jim Clark National Rally.

For more on the championship please visit www.gravelrally.co.uk.

County Durham based Stephen, who is co-driven by Michael Wilkinson, has had mixed results from his numerous trips to the island but, typically, the young pilot shows strong form on the many narrow and twisty lanes that make up the bulk of the stages. In the past Stephen has been used to hustling a Production spec Mitsubishi Evo around the island, but this year he has made the step up to the more sophisticated world rally car machinery. The Hyundai, an ex works car, should go well here. However minimal tarmac testing will present Stephen with his biggest hurdle. As such the 2007 Mitsubishi Evo Challenge Junior Champion aims to take a steady approach and learn the car.

“No heroics this weekend. I love the car, and it really suits my driving style. I’ve had some good runs on the Manx before, but this place has to be treated with respect. Michael and I are not going to get much chance to test before the rally, so we’re just going to go at our own pace. Once we’re comfortable with the settings we might raise our game a bit.”

The RBS Manx International Rally is based in Douglas and consists of 14 high speed tarmac stages on closed public roads throughout the tiny island. The first car starts from the TT Grandstand at 7pm on Friday evening, and will tackle a selection of tests in the dark. Action resumes at 8:30am on Saturday morning for a full day of action packed rallying.

For more on the rally please visit www.manxrally.org. For more on the championship please visit www.gravelrally.co.uk.

Julian, co-driven by fellow Welshman, the experienced Patrick Walsh, tackled the opening stages in a confident but determined fashion. Fifth fastest Evo Challenge driver through the opening test was then followed by a brilliant second quickest on Stage 2. Despite a minor overshoot due to the changeable conditions the Kumho shod car continued to set top 5 Evo times throughout the rest of the night stages to end day 1 twelfth overall and third in class.

Day 2 saw Julian continue to set strong times, never dropping outside the top 4 and by lunch time the Reynolds Fencing backed car was up to ninth overall just 14 seconds off the class leader. However, all of Julian’s fine work would be undone on Stage 11 when, without warning, the gearbox blew up and he was left with no option but to park up the stricken car and become a spectator for the rest of the rally.

“Our end result is really frustrating but until SS11 we were having a brilliant rally. This was my first event on Kumhos and they were fantastic. We were using the same tactics we’ve been using all year, not pushing too hard and always driving within ourselves and it appeared to be working.” said Julian.

The next event for Julian will be the Severn Valley Rally on 2^nd June, an event which he knows well.

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.