DURSLEY’s Peter Hedges and Stroud co-driver Marcus Stickland were in action again this weekend looking to equal or better their excellent second place on the Get it Sideways stages last month.

Round three of the South West Sealed Stage Rally Championship saw the duo head to the Corinium Stages Rally, run by Cirencester Car Club, which uses Down Ampney airfield near Cirencester for its stages. The competition was run through eight stages with approximately fifty stage miles in and around the sealed concrete airfield runways and support roads.

The airfield is ageing but, this year, it was evident the car clubs had done extensive resurfacing on many parts of the route.

The day started with two 5.3 mile stages around the circuit.

The opening stage gave Hedges the worst possible start when they had to stop mid stage to sort out an oil issue with the car.

The dipstick had worked loose which caused oil to get onto the exhaust.

With the problem fixed, the pair where on their way again but with roughly 2.5 minutes lost and in 39th position overall, the rest of the day was going to be a battle to get back in the running.

For the rest of the rally, Hedges and Stickland where faultless in pulling themselves back up the leaderboard.

The afternoon’s longer 7.3 mile stages saw the duo set times consistently in the top five and by the end of stage five they were up to 20th overall.

In stage four, more places were gained by the duo which put them into 16th place. The final stage of the day saw the British weather at its best.

With the crew running slick tarmac tyres it was a case of easing off as the snow, hail then rain fell making the concrete surface nothing more than a skid pan.

As many struggled with the final stage drama, Hedges safely piloted the Mitsubshi Evo back home to a tenth position overall finish, and a Class E seventh position with a time of one hour two mins 16 seconds.

The rally was won by Gary Le Coadou and Carl Sorensen in their Toyota Corolla WRC.