Nigel Worswick has his first competitive outing of 2023

2300 Club member Nigel Worswick has his first competitive outing of 2023 when he starts the East Riding Stages on Sunday.

The Blackburn driver is seeded at car 22 in his beautifully-prepared Fiesta S2000T, with Steven Clark, from Furness DMC, on the maps.

Run for the first time last year, the rally comprises 45-miles of closed roads around the Beverley area, starting from the town’s historic Saturday market.

The high quality entry list boasts an impressive top fifteen crews, with any of them possible winners.

Thanks to Covid, Nigel and his superb ex-Nasser Al-Attiyah machine have only been seen infrequently – his last outing was back in August – and that has hindered development of the car and his progress getting to grips with it.

He explained: “I bought it just as the pandemic kicked in. With events cancelled everywhere, it meant we didn’t get the mileage in the car which I needed for two reasons.

“Firstly, it’s left-hand-drive, which requires a lot of practice to master at high speed, and secondly, I’m not getting any younger.

“It’s been a long and steep learning curve, frustrating at times, and we’ve had several issues to resolve with the car. But we’ve finally got to the point where I feel comfortable with it. We took it to the Barbados Rally and it performed faultlessly, and then had a day testing at Blyton, where again, it ran faultlessly.

“So, I’m really looking forward to the rally. The entry list is amazing, if I can get inside the top 15 it would be one hell of a result.

“Hopefully, it will be dry on Sunday. The roads are level, with long, 500-yard straights and straw-bale chicanes. In the wet, the tarmac become slimy and unpredictable.

“But, if I can get a clean run, drive the car as hard as I can, and bring it home in one piece, then I’ll be very, very happy.”