Ivybridge-based motorsport duo Aaron Lillicrap and Richard Brooks are preparing for the third round of the Premier Championship promoted by the Endurance Road Rally Championship, the Ross Endurance on April 28.

The pair, part of the Warthog Motorsport collective,  compete in their spare time from full-time jobs, facing a race against time to sort out Aaron's 1972 Austin Mini.

With the engine and gearbox currently out the car for a much-needed rebuild, it will be touch and go if the parts arrive on time to re-assemble.

The second round was the Great Bustard Endurance Rally, at the start of April, consisting of 80 miles of private land 'tests' and around 100 miles of navigational section in the total 350-mile route.

The gruelling event, centred on Shepton Mallet in Somerset, saw 31 cars start the event and the Lillicrap/

Brooks crew hit trouble early on.

'The rear crankshaft seal started to leak early on in the event, which gave us a tough decision to make: keep running and potential cook the engine or quit.

The ethos of endurances is to keep going and get to the end and that's what we did.'

Aaron continues: 'We worked out afterwards we put in more oil in during the event than the engine and gearbox will hold in one go, so we had a bit of luck'.

That wasn't the only problem hindering the mini, with a water coolant leak, a puncture, and then the brake pedal starting to come loose.

The event is probably the toughest on the calendar, using Worthy Farm, the site for Glastonbury Music Festival, as well as airfields and woodlands, combined with a mix of regularity and navigational sections. This means both crew members are thoroughly tested.

Richard says: 'I love going to Worthy Farm, it's like a maze, hundreds of tracks and so many ways you could use it, especially in the dark. The night sections was our best bit, we did really well, being the sixth best crew on that part.

'Considering Aaron has done very few events, he controlled the pace of the car very well, and I had a good night on the maps.'

The duo finished higher than a lot of more powerful cars and more experienced crews in 11th overall and second in class.

Follow updates from Warthog Motorsport on Facebook by searching for /teamwarthog and the championship details are at www.

endurancerallying.co.

uk.