The 73rd edition of the KH7 Rally Costa Brava, Spain’s oldest rally, surpassed its own participation record, with 256 teams competing in the event, and enjoyed an extraordinary atmosphere on the stages and at the Service Park.
Over three days, thirteen special stages and 151.28km of tight twisty tarmac roads to contend with Perez showed as usual he was the master at rallying.
The 25-year-old rally driver, racer and Motorsport UK Fuchs Lubricants British Historic Rally Champion of 2024 was on form from the start, armed with the Amigos Tequila Beer sponsored Lancia Stratos HF with navigator Dale Bowen sat alongside reading the pace notes.
The rally start in Girona saw first leg of the event take place in darkness on the Thursday night,
SS1 Els Angels, was the 15.68km test with the main climb spanning some 11km with gradients of around three percent to the top. It was wet and rainy but didn’t put Perez off, he finished the stage in second and narrowly off the lead that had been taken by Finnish World Rally Championship rally driver Jari-Matti Latvala and co-driver Janni Hussi, in their historic 4 wheel drive turbo Toyota Celica ST.
Friday was made up of six stages, SS2 Santuari dels Àngels 1 saw Perez blast through the 9.86kms twisty and rocky sided roads with drops to one side to take 3rd place, Latvala still lead and multiple winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans Romain Dumas in the mix in second.
Perez was seven minutes off the lead and was flying. He knew the pressure was on with the likes of two champions ahead of him. The positions remained the same on SS3
Santa Pellaia Curt 1 with Perez dropping down to fifth overall and 4th in class after remote service in Tossa de Mar, a stage later ( SS4 Salions - Sant Grau Curt 1).
The afternoon was made up of the same morning stages, a re-run of all three and Perez was hoping to make up for lost time.
By SS6 Santa Pellaia Curt 2, the dynamic duo of Perez and Bowen were back in the running, they were in 3rd place, dropping to 9th in class though. The pair were flying but shortly afterwards the Stratos developed issues relating to a drive shaft. The pair lost essential time and a penalty on the road section between stages. They were back down in 8th spot whilst on the road
They were now on a mission to get back on track but by the last stage of the second lag, day two they were in 10th spot overall, but keeping in the top three in class since the start.
Leg three on Saturday was going to be the make or break for the pair with an early start, with 6 brand new stages, ran twice during the day and a total distance of 73.52km of stage miles to contend with.
Fresh out of Parc Ferme in Girona and a quick 15 minute service, Perez was straight into SS8 Sant Miquel de Cladells 1, a short blast of 8.91km saw them back in contention and on mission.
They finished second to Latvala on stage, who was dominating the event. They were 6th overall under 4 minutes off the lead.
Next up was SS9 Collsaplana 1, second longest stage of the rally, some 14.88km of long twisty left and right handers and some fast straights to tackle.
Again, they were on it from the stage start, the Stratos was running well and sounding great to the roadside spectators cheering them on. They finished the section 5th overall and were again second fastest in the stage, retaining onto third spot in class.
It was straight into the re-run of SS11 2, due to SS10 Sant Hilari – Osor 1 and last stage of the day SS13 Sant Hilari – Osor 2 being cancelled.
They were fast on the asphalt, the tyres were sticking like glue to the surface, finishing second again and were into P4 on the event.
Last stage of the day was SS12 Collsaplana 2 Power Stage and saw them taking another 2nd fastest through the 14km’s and saw them take 4th overall.
The pair has a good first outing in Spain, finishing 4th overall, and second in class. They intent to compete in some more FIA European Historic Rally Championship events during the season
Afterwards a delighted Perez said: “it went really well, we had a good battle with Romain Dumas and WRC driver Jari-Matti Latvala throughout, the drive shaft issue didn’t help us but we got some good times in on Saturday and only two seconds off 3rd spot. It was a good weekend of what it could have been.”