STOURBRIDGE rally ace Richard Sykes gets his season under way this weekend at the Somerset Stages Rally.

Sykes had been due to compete in the Rally North Wales earlier this month but heavy snow and ice on the course forced a postponement.

And with the next British Rally Challenge event three weeks away, Sykes has decided to enter the Somerset event to get much needed time in the car.

He said: “We need to blow the cobwebs away really.

“Unfortunately the weather prevented us from doing that last weekend so hopefully the Somerset Stages will be a good shakedown for the car and the driver.

“It was very disappointing that the Rally North Wales was cancelled after all the hard work and preparation to get the car ready.

“But full credit to the organisers for taking the decision, the conditions were awful and there was no chance of the stages being accessed.”

The Somerset Stages is based in Minehead and the crews will do battle in the surrounding forests as well as the Porlock toll road.

Sykes added: “I’m really looking forward to getting back into the forests, our aim is to drive tidily and work on the set-up of the car ahead of the Pirelli rally.

“There’s only two weeks between the events so we will not be pushing hard as we don’t want to damage the car.

“There’s no pressure for championship points so we’ll simply be looking to getting some valuable forest mileage.”