COMPETING at the highest level in world rallying has become second nature for Longparish's Justin Dale, but this week he returned to his roots.

At the weekend he will be lining up alongside the best rally drivers in the world on the high speed asphalt tests of Rallye Deutschland, but earlier this week he returned to Ringwood's test venue where he made final adjustments to his Playstation-backed world rally car.

Preparing for his first attempts at the German round of the world championship, Justin fine-tuned his WRC Hyundai at Avon Park, a testing ground he last used in his Hamble Motors Peugeot 205 10 years ago.

His career took off from there and he became a fixture in the Peugeot works team but moved on from that last year to step up into the world championship.

Following in the wheel tracks of Richard Burns and Colin McRae, his first real break came with a late call up to replace Alistair McRae on Rally GB last November but it was to prove a tough baptism.

Justin said: "I was so desperate to prove myself in the Mitsubishi and the times were there but it all ended too soon when I was blinded by low sun in Wales and we left the road at speed."

But now, with Andrew Bargery in the co-driver's seat, Justin has bounced back from that setback and this year finds himself behind the wheel of the astonishingly quick Hyundai.

The car is worlds apart from the humble 205 he drove at Avon Park in the early 1990s but Justin still recalls that promotional day with Hamble Motors and has kept the photos in an ever growing scrapbook.

"It seems a long time ago now and I may be lining up with the best in the world this week but it is only thanks to the support that I received from local companies in the early days that has allowed me to reach this level," he said.

Justin's efforts in Germany get underway today with three tough days of rallying as part of an expanding world rally championship programme which will see him contesting up to 16 events around the world next year.