Father and daughter go head-to-head in local rally

16 Apr Father and daughter go head-to-head in local rally

Reigning British Ladies Rally Champion Nabila Tejpar will compete in her home county for the very first time this weekend as she tackles the brand new Corbeau Seats  Rally – Tendring & Clacton (22nd April), but will have the additional challenge of beating her father Aziz in the inaugural event.

The 24 year old from Maldon is used to competing against some of the best young rally drivers in Europe as she competes in the coveted Junior Prestone MSA British Rally Championship, but this weekend she will have a competitor of a different kind as her rallying dad will be lining up against her.

Nabila will be driving her newly acquired Ford Fiesta R2T and will be co-driven by Richard Bliss. She will be sponsored for the third year by Pump Technology and has newly acquired support from Matrix Construction with continued support from NUA Motors, Advanced Chiropractic, Allied Polymer, and Environmental Biotech.

Aziz will be behind the wheel of a very different Ford, his powerful ex-Alistair McRae Escort MK2. The rallying family are no strangers to competing on similar events together but their local event will mark the first time they have competed in the same category.

The British Women Racing Driver finalist has been rallying since her 21st birthday and was introduced to the sport by her father. After progressing through the ranks of British Rallying, Nabila contested the Cadet Cup in 2017 and narrowly missed out on a podium spot behind the wheel of an ageing Fiesta R2.

With her 2018 plans being announced in the next few weeks, the Clacton based rally will be used as a warm up to her season but she is determined to ensure she beats her experienced father.

“It’s amazing to think that we will be rallying a few miles away from home and to compete against Dad is actually a real challenge” says Nabila.

“I’m the third generation of rally drivers in the family. My grandad used to rally in Africa and so he passed on his knowledge to my Dad who handed it down to me so now the pressure is on to try and beat him in pretty much our back yard!”

But Nabila is well aware this won’t be an easy task.

“He is still pretty handy behind the wheel” she says. “Don’t tell him though as he will think I am worried”.

Nabila recently upgraded to a Peugeot 208 R2 which will be used for selected outings in the British Rally Championship this season. The Fiesta R2T will be used in Clacton and run by Hampshire preparation experts MH Motorsport.  Nabila will use the 1.0litre Ecoboost machine for the first time on the closed road event and is excited at the prospect of competing in front of a home crowd.