Top British GT racer Mike Jordan will return to the 2004 Armajaro MSA British Historic Rally Championship next weekend (1/2 May) to compete in his own Mk1 Ford Escort. Jordan will take time out from his racing commitments to debut the Holbay-engined car on the Welsh International Rally on the tarmac stages of Epynt.

Having contested the opening BHRC event of the season in a borrowed car, Jordan has now acquired an Escort of his own, although his British GT and Le Mans Endurance Series schedule will prevent him from using it regularly in 2004.

Following a successful test session on Friday at the Blyton rallycross track, Jordan has confirmed his entry for the Welsh when he will be co-driven by Howard Pridmore.

“The car is absolutely superb! I couldn’t stop grinning on the way back from the test. The guys at XS Racing have done a lovely job on the car and I’m really revved up for this weekend,” says the Birmingham racer who has already competed at Le Mans and Daytona and won the British GT title.

However, Jordan knows that Epynt is a big challenge and does not underestimate the learning curve he faces as he prepares to do his first tarmac rally and his first event on pace notes. “I’ll need to be patient on Epynt,” he says. He has, in fact, been to Epynt once before, but that was nearly 30 years ago. “I had a passenger ride on Epynt with Russell Brookes when I was 14, but it was in the dark and I couldn’t see over the dashboard!”

Jordan will line up in the hugely competitive class C5 of the post-historic (category 1) section of the BHRC. “It should be a good laugh! The car was just brilliant straight out of the box and it was so exciting to drive,” he added.