Leg Two - Helmsley to Carlisle

Day two of the Roger Albert Clark Rally saw Kick Energy rally driver Steve Perez and co driver Paul Spooner maintain their position on the leaderboard and after the ten-stage loop around Yorkshire, through County Durham and into Northumberland, the pair are placed in 14th at the Carlisle Racecourse overnight halt.

In the 1974 Lancia Stratos, Perez from Chesterfield and Welshman Spooner climbed a place to 13th in the opening stage in Langdale 1 this morning and maintained the position through Gale Rigg despite dropping a little bit of time due to the rough nature of the stage.

A top twelve stage time around the very slippery Duncombe Park followed by an impressive showing in Langdale 2 and Gale Rigg saw them head over to Croft in 13th place as darkness fell. However, it mattered not to the triple British champion as he elevated himself up to 12th around the race circuit near Darlington and headed into the final two stages of the day.

The daunting Hamsterley test saw the pair drop time when heavy rain made visibility problematic and relegated them to 14th but with a storming drive to seventh fastest in Shepherdshield, Perez closed the gap to just six seconds from the car in front.

"The car is going well and we have had no major problems other than the wipers not being good enough in Hamsterley to clear the rain, they don't get a lot of it in Italy! The Yorkshire stages have been rough and I've been doing my best to preserve the car, it's not ideally suited for those conditions. In fact they were rougher than in Africa in some places and I'm sure the only thing missing was a zebra! The last stage in Kielder suited us as it was a lot smoother so hopefully that's a sign of things to come. I'm aiming for a top ten finish so hopefully, we can get somewhere near that tomorrow," said Steve.

Sunday's action sees competitors tackling the classic Scottish stages of Ae and Twiglees before service in Dumfries is followed by the short spectator stage at Heathhall. A repeat of the stages follows before it's into two tests in Newcastleton forest in darkness before the overnight halt at Carlisle Racecourse.

Please visit www.rogeralbertclarkrally.org for further information or follow Steve Perez Rallying on Facebook.

Roger Albert Clark Rally - Interim Results after SS14
1 Gwyndaf Evans/John Millington - Ford Escort RS - 1:17.16
2 Paul Griffiths/Sam Collis - Ford Escort RS 1800 - 1:19.30
3 David Stokes/Guy Weaver - Ford Escort RS 1600 - 1:20.51
4 Tim Pearcey/Neil Shanks - Ford Escort RS1800 - 1:22.06
5 Charlie Taylor/Steve Bielby - Ford Escort - 1:22.26
6 Leigh Armstrong/Chris Armstrong - Ford Escort MK II - 1:23.29
7 Guy Woodcock/Graham Dance - Ford Escort RS 2000 - 1:23.43
8 Peter Smith/Paul Wakely - Ford Escort MK I - 1:24.05
9 Keith Robathan/Phil Clarke - Ford Escort Mk II - 1:25.01
10 Barry Jordan/Lee Carter - Ford Escort - 1:25.57
14 Steve Perez/Paul Spooner - Lancia Stratos - 1:26.37