STOURBRIDGE racer Richard Sykes will make a long-awaited return to rallying next weekend when he takes part in the Jim Clark Challenge Rally with co-driver Janice Moore.

It will be Sykes’ first event of the year and his first on tarmac since he successfully completed the Mull Rally last October in his G I Sykes and Boroughbridge Marina-backed Citroën C2 R2 Max.

Sykes said: “We had a very difficult time contesting the British Rally Championship last year with all kinds of problems with the car.

“It was pretty ironic that we then managed to finish the Mull Rally which is one of the toughest events in the UK rally calendar.

“The car performed really well on Mull and some of the stages on the Jim Clark are of a similar nature with lots of fast, narrow and bumpy tarmac, I’m hopeful we will be able to get a good result and I'll be aiming for a podium spot.

“The car is now fully sorted and it has been meticulously maintained in preparation for what will be a very competitive BRC Challenge event.

“Although I haven’t been competing so far this year I’ll be pushing hard right from the start, I competed on the event last year in the Citroën and flat out is the only way to go if you want a good result as the Challenge is so competitive.”

The event starts on Friday evening with three stages, including the very difficult Abbey St Bathans test, before a further five stages on Saturday which finish with the high-speed jumps of the Swinton stage.