Perez wins Yorkshire rally

Using Pirelli tyres, Steve Perez dominated the Trackrod Forest Stages rally in Yorkshire to put himself firmly in contention for the 2014 BTRDA Rally Series title.

The Chesterfield driver, whose ex-Marcus Gronholm Ford Focus WRC07 ran on Pirelli rubber, put his stamp on the Pickering-based event where main title rival Paul Bird finished second, just 3.4 seconds behind.

“Today was a case of building a lead early on and managing it, which is exactly how it worked out,” said the multiple national champion, who is co-driven by Paul Spooner. “We dropped some time with a couple of minor stalls but got the win and our third victory in the series, which sets us up nicely for the Cambrian Rally.”

Perez, who dedicated his win to the late Bjorn Waldegard, the inaugural world rally champion, was eight seconds faster than his rivals on the first of seven stages in Langdale and had increased that margin to 13 seconds after the next test in Gale Rigg.

In the Historic category, Richard Hill and Steffan Evans put in a late charge in their Pirelli-shod Escort to overcome 2013 winner Matt Edwards.

The final round of the BTRDA Rally Series, the Cambrian Rally in north Wales, takes place on October 18.