Two old hands have made a spectacular return to rallying in a new team.

Keith Raymond and Les Holden, of Clacton-based ASW Rally Sport, made a spectacular entry to national championship rallying by taking class honours in a showroom-style Group N 1600cc Vauxhall Nova on the Sunseeker Rally in Bournemouth.

The pair stormed through the field and put more competitive cars to shame.

Their unmodified Nova repeatedly put in exceptionally fast stage times and managed to take first place in their 1400-2000cc class.

They also came third in the Initiative 2000 class, a new class which contained highly modified cars up to 2000cc, and fourth in the Formula Two Class for two wheel drive cars.

Raymond said: "I was really nervous before the start as I haven't been in the forest since the RAC Rally in 1993. But once I got off the tarmac stages and into the forest it all came back to me."

Raymond has returned to competitive motorsport after a four-year break.

The Nova holds a special place in his heart as it is the car in which he became British Autocross Champion in 1996.

Raymond and Holden are planning to contest all seven rounds of the National Rally Championship and then finish with the Network Q Rally of Great Britain.

Holden, co-driver and owner of AutoPartsClacton, last competed in 1998 on the Network Q Rally.

He said: "We upset a lot of people in much more powerful cars who just couldn't believe we could do so much with a little 1600cc Nova. The Escort Cosworths were eating our dust."

Main sponsor and owner of the rally car, Steve Tandy, from Vauxhall Spares, Ford Road, Clacton, said: "This was a fantastic result and a great start to the National Rally Championship. We've now got our sights firmly set on the next event, the Granite City Rally in Aberdeen, at the beginning of April."

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