Brown will be straight to the point at the Tyneside Stages

Photo: Manxman Photos

Steve Brown in action in his Nissan Micra kit car

Steve Brown is looking to recoup lost points for his championship bid this weekend over Otterburn.

Nissan Micra Kit Car pilot Steve Brown will head to the North East this weekend in a bid to regain some lost ground on his REIS MSA Asphalt Rally Championship class B9 title chase at the Tyneside Stages.

After suffering a disheartening retirement on just the second test of the ALMC Stages in Ireland last month, Brown now has it all to do if he is to regain the lead of the hotly fought 1400cc class.

The Rochdale ace lost two places in the series thanks to his non scoring outing on the last round, and currently sits eight points adrift of the leader in third.

Brown will be joined for the first time this year by Jane Edgington as regular co-driver Paul Stringer has work commitments. The newly formed duo will head to the Otterburn based event as number 75 seed and with over 80 competitive stage miles across the infamous military ranges ahead of them, there will be little time to get acclimatised to each other.

“Paul is always very busy in the summer so thanks to Jane for stepping in for the Tyneside” says Brown. “We will have to be on the ball from the very first stage but I’m sure that won’t be a problem.

"The roads up there are fairly unique and really take a bit of getting used to. Anyone who competes regularly there will have an advantage over us but we know what we have to do to keep ourselves in the title chase.”

Despite the Micra being newly built for the 2015 season, the ALMC Stages retirement was his first this year and the 27-year-old sales engineer has been happy with how the car has performed.

Brown said: “We had a good result in the first two rounds in the championship which gave us the lead in the B9 class going into the ALMC despite taking it fairly steady until I got used to the car.

"We pulled out a 15 second lead on the first stage in Ireland so it was all looking good before we retired so hopefully we can pick up that pace again this weekend.

"We need a decent points haul here if we are to stand a chance of grabbing the title. With just two rounds left after this, every point makes a difference.”

The Northumberland event consists of 13 stages in the Southern Cheviots during Sunday 2 August. Competitors will carry out a pre-event reconnoitre on Saturday, allowing them to make route notes for Sunday's event. The first car will kick off the event at around 8.30am with the finish ceremony taking place at Otterburn Leisure Centre at around 5pm that evening.

Brown is supported in 2015 by Questmead Ltd, Mintex, Fuchs Titan, PIAA, 710 Oils, Power Maxed and SIX80 Limited.