Steve Petch Senior, now officially retired, was dusting off the cobwebs and competing in the National section on board an SG Petch Motorsport run Hyundai Accent World Rally Car. Despite winning this event last year Steve faced stiff competition from the much newer World cars of Paul Bird and Steve Perez. However, showing he had lost none of his natural ability, Petch Senior set a string of top 3 times all day long, beating both of his rivals on a number of occasions before returning to Pickering with 3rd overall comfortably in the bag.

“I really enjoyed today. The car is a joy to drive and she ran faultlessly all day long. There was no way we were going to touch the newer cars so we just drove our own rally” said Steve.

Stephen Petch Junior, contesting the International event in a SG Petch Motorsport run Mitsubishi Evo 9, experienced a slightly more entertaining day. Struggling to slow down on a long straight on the opening stage Stephen flattened an artificial chicane and then stalled the car in the process. This time loss meant he was only 7th fastest in the Evo Challenge at the end of the stage.

However from then onwards Stephen pushed hard and was constantly inside the top 3 times for the rest of the day as he climbed back up the leader board to claim third in the Evo Challenge and seventh overall, showing once more that the young rally driver can take the fight to the British Rally Championship regulars, even on such a high speed event as this.

“Michael and I had a good run today. It was difficult judging the chicanes so we squashed one or two but apart from that we had a good rally. The car was great but the diff began to go at lunch time so at every stage in the afternoon we were tightening the transfer box. I don’t think it would have lasted much longer” said Stephen.

The team now have two weeks to prepare Stephens’ Evo 9 before he returns to competition on the final round of the 2007 Mitsubishi Evo Challenge, the Oswestry based Bulldog Rally. Stephen is still in with a shot at the runner up spot in the championship so will be looking for another strong run.

Stephen, who was forced to skip the Ulster Rally due to business commitments, will be joined by his father Steve in a two car team. Although now officially retired Steve still competes on some of his favourite events and will be contesting the National event aboard a Hyundai Accent World Rally Car. Steve won this rally in 2006 and will be looking forward to a similarly strong run this weekend whilst Stephen is just hoping he can see the finish after retiring for the past two years.

He said: “In 2005 I had an engine fire on the opening stage. Last year I managed to get to stage 2 before the oil cooler was damaged by a punctured tyre, ending our rally. The stages are great ad I’d really like the opportunity to drive them! It’s been a while since we were last out but I’m really looking forward to the rally.”

The International Rally of Yorkshire starts at 9am on Saturday 6th October with the first car due back mid afternoon. The Pickering based event takes in some of the famous RAC stages of old, including Dalby and Cropton and with over 100 stage miles in 1 day of rallying presents the drivers with quite a challenge