Another podium spot for in-form Seb Perez in North Wales

Fresh from his rally win the weekend before on an action packed XX Rally Clasico Isla Mallorca in Spain, Perez, with regular co-driver Gary McElhinney, finished the gruelling National rally in third place and only 00:01 of a second off second place and 0:37 seconds off top spot.

He also led a faultless rally class C4/C5 act from start to finish, seeing off many of the rally Escorts in the event.

The pair swapped fast tarmac for wet forest mud and gravel in the Amigos Tequila Flavoured Beer-sponsored #5 Porsche 911 Carrera RS built for historic rallying by Chesterfield’s motorsport outfit Dansport.

The one-day event started in Welshpool, North Wales and would take in some of the well-known WRC Rally Wales GB stages, with some 100 competitors, it comprised of 72.51km of special stage miles, over eight stages and all of them run twice during the day.

First stage of Saturday’s event was SS1 Gartheiniog 1, Perez took the first one of the day in his stride taking a 10th place finish at the end of the 5.5 miles.

SS2 Big Ray 1 saw six seconds off stage leader Nick Elliott in his Fiat 131 Abarth by the end of the stage, Perez was still leading his historic rally class and eighth overall.

On stage 3 Dyfnant West 1, Perez was slightly slower as he finished the stage in 14th spot and was down to tenth overall.

SS 4 Dyfnant East 1 was a short blast of 3.5 miles of tight and twisty forest stage, but Perez completed it with ease in 12th place and maintaining his tenth spot overall and still the leader in class.

SS 5 Gartheiniog 2 saw 65 cars left in the event. Perez again was on it to lead the class and by the end of the next stage SS 6 Big Ray 2, was up to seventh place overall in the event and had finished the stage in seventh as well.

The penultimate stage on the rally was SS 7 Dyfnant West 2 and saw Seb slower than the morning run of the stage, as he completed the miles in 8m:36s but remained overall in seventh spot and still leading his historic class.

The last stage of the day was SS 8 4 Dyfnant East 2 and saw Perez faster and there was no stopping, he knew he could better his overall rally position and his last stage time.

The Porsche flew, Perez drove with precision and the car stuck to the muddy stage like glue.

He took the fastest time on the stage and took a very well-deserved third place and an historic class win.

Afterwards Perez said: “It was really a good result as last year we struggled to get a clean run on the stages, so it was really nice to get a third place overall and a category win and to fastest on the last stage topped the event off well.

"It’s been great to get two podiums over two weekends in two different cars and we will take that for sure.

"The car felt great and again a big thank you to all at Dansport for their continued support and assistance.”