Duns driver Garry Pearson happy with fourth-placed finish at Welsh rally

Duns rally driver Garry Pearson in action at the weekend’s Rali Ceredigion in Wales, round five of the 2022 Motorsport UK British Rally Championship (Photo: British Rally Championship)

Duns driver Garry Pearson just missed out on a podium place at last weekend’s Rali Ceredigion in Wales but is still within reach of the front-runners in this year’s Motorsport UK British Rally Championship.

Pearson and co-driver Dale Furniss were hoping to make it third back – after winner Osian Pryce and runner-up James Williams – at the fifth round of the rally series, held on Saturday and Sunday over an 85-mile circuit on closed roads around Aberystwyth, but were pipped to the post by Londoner Ruari Bell.

It was only the Borderer’s third-ever closed-road asphalt event and he was happy to get so close to a podium placing despite his Hankook Tire and Asset Alliance Group-backed Ford Fiesta Rally2 being hampered by a puncture.

“I’m extremely pleased with the pace we showed this weekend, considering the experience of the guys around us,” said the 30-year-old.

“To jump into a Rally2 car and compete at the sharp end of the British championship takes a lot of seat time, so to say we were so close to our second podium of the season on a surface I’m not that familiar with is very positive for the future.”

Pearson made it up to third place during the opening loop of stages on Sunday but clipped a rock, sustaining a puncture and incurring a time loss, dropping back to fourth, then notched up a series of top three times over the final loop, missing out on the podium by just eight seconds.

He says he’s treating his debut season in the competition’s BRC1 category as a study year after picking up four major titles last year so any podium spots, such as his first top-flight one at his home-town’s Jim Clark Rally in May, are an added bonus.

“I learnt so much over the weekend,” said Pearson.

“Everything came together for us despite having never contested the event before, and it was just a little unlucky that our tyre choice put us back on Sunday morning.

“The Hankook tyres were working well, and I was starting to be able to push, but I know there is much more to come as we continue to develop our asphalt pace.

“It’s certainly a boost to the confidence when you can show that pace, and I’m looking forward to the final two rounds, which switch back to gravel.”

Pearson is currently sitting fourth in the championship standings on 42 points, having played a joker.

Pryce, 29, of Powys in Wales, is top with 93; Irishman Keith Cronin, 36, second with 86; and Williams, 24, another Welshman, third with 63.