Historic rally ace Bob Gibbons is planning a full campaign in this year’s Mintex MSA series, using a giant-killing Ford Cortina Mk2 GT that he last drove in 2003.
The former British Historic Rally Championship front-runner initially returned to the sport after a four-year lay-off in 2012, winning the HRCR Historic Stage Rally Challenge in four-door Cortina (above).
The Welshman's original car, which he took to third overall in the first-ever MSA British Historic series in 2000, has been completely rebuilt by T2 Motorsport over the past 12 months.
He will use this machine to contest Category One, for pre-1968 cars, in the Mintex MSA championship, setting his sights on Dessie Nutt.
Gibbons said: “That car won the Welsh Historic Championship in 1999 and came third in the very first British Historic series in 2000. But I sold it in 2003 to fund an Escort Mk1.
"The Cortina is twice the size and twice the weight of an Escort, but it is also twice the fun. You have to really throw it at corners to get the best out of it.”
Long-standing co-driver Stuart Cardell has recently emigrated to Italy, so Gibbons has formed a new partnership with Neil Cook.
The Mintex MSA British Historic series gets under way at the Rally Marketing Mid Wales Stages, based in Newtown, Powys on 3 March with BHRC crews running ahead of the modern cars.
Further details plus full regulations and championship registration forms for the 2013 Mintex MSA British Historic Rally Championship are available from the Historic Rally Car Register’s website.
James Elliott is a former Editor of Classic & Sports Car