01 May Tejpar takes Clacton podium before heading to European Rally Championship debut
Reigning British Ladies Rally Champion Nabila Tejpar secured an impressive third in class at last Sunday’s Corbeau Seats Rally – Tendring & Clacton (28th April) but headed straight to Gran Canaria to make her FIA European Rally Championship (FIA ERC) debut this week (2-4th May).
Tejpar, 25 from Maldon overcame unpredictable weather and an incorrect tyre choice to taker her Pump Technology backed Peugeot 208 R2 to 35th overall from a start number of 101, taking third in Class B in the process. The result on her home rally would mark her first podium since Rally Portugal last year.
However, Tejpar would immediately back up her success with the news that she would contest this week’s Rally Islas Canarias, round two of the prestigious FIA ERC. Tejpar will go up against some of the fastest drivers in Europe across the twisty and super-fast closed roads around the island.
Along with co-driver Max Freeman, Tejpar would contest her home event in Essex for the second time, having been forced to retire from the event last year with transmission woes in her Ford Fiesta. This time around, she would use her British Championship Peugeot 208 R2 and would once again go head-to-head with her rallying Father Aziz on the event.
Sadly, he would retire his Allied Polymer Ford Escort Mk2 early in the event leaving Nabila to uphold the family honours. She duly obliged and after a cautious start, soon settled into the unique closed roads around the Clacton rally base.
A lowly seeding position meant she would be catching slower cars on the stages which hampered her progress somewhat, but a measured drive saw her climb up the class leader board from eleventh to fourth by the fourth test. With the rain showers becoming unpredictable, a wrong tyre choice would mean she had a cautious second loop but by the time the afternoon came, she had found her rhythm.
