Borders rally driver Garry Pearson hoping to get third time lucky in Belgium after two false starts closer to home

A clutch issue with his old Skoda Fabia R5 hampered the Duns 31-year-old’s hopes of picking up enough points to stay within reach of the top end of the leaderboard at the opening round of this year’s championship, March’s Malcolm Wilson Rally in Cumbria, accompanied by stand-in co-driver Hannah McKillop, of Melrose.

That faltering first outing left him sixth in the contest’s standings with eight points, 22 adrift of French front-runner Adrien Fourmaux.

Worse was to follow in round in round two, last month’s Jim Clark Rally in the Borders, however.

Behind the wheel of a new car, a Volkswagen Polo GTI R5, and accompanied by his new co-driver, Burnley’s Daniel Barritt, for the first time, he was hoping to improve on the third place he picked up there last year, his first podium finish in the championship, but instead of benefiting from home advantage, he ended up even more out of luck than he had at Cockermouth.

A third-place finish, behind World Rally Championship contender Fourmaux and four-time British champion Keith Cronin, in the rally’s first competitive stage, an 11.8-mile Friday night run up to Longformacus, boded well but a re-run of the same stage after dark saw Pearson sent off the road by a high-speed spin, knocking out his car’s headlights and leaving him unable to continue.

The time penalty incurred for missing a stage of the rally prompted Pearson to decide against patching his car up and competing the day after and instead he contented himself with spectating alongside his sponsors and partners.

Explaining that move, he said: “Unfortunately I wasn’t able to provide the result that we were after, but it was great to spend lots of time with our loyal supporters over the weekend and offer them passenger runs, an in-depth look at the car, signed merchandise and a tour of the Jim Clark Museum, as well as plenty of spectating.

“From the sporting side, of course I am disappointed with what happened, particularly considering it was my home event.

“It’s not been the easiest of starts to our British championship campaign, but we got on really well with the car and the team, and it felt like Dan and I had been in the car together for years.”

Pearson’s early exit at the Duns rally left him without any points to add to the eight he already had in the bag, seeing him drop down to ninth place on the competition’s leaderboard, 47 points shy of Fourmaux’s tally of 55 but only 17 off the top three.

He’s now hoping to get third time lucky at the Ardeca Ypres Rally, the only round of the championship staged outwith the UK, on Friday and Saturday, June 23 and 24.

“There’s not long to go until we leave for Belgium, so I am looking forward to gaining some serious experience over there,” he said.

Four further rounds follow that trip across the North Sea.

Next after that are the Modern Tyres Ulster Rally at Newry in Northern Ireland on Friday and Saturday, August 18 and 19, and the Get Connected Rali Ceredigion at Aberystwyth in Wales on Saturday and Sunday, September 2 and 3.

Round six is Filey’s Trackrod Rally Yorkshire on Friday and Saturday, September 22 and 23, and this year’s finale is the Visit Conwy Cambrian Rally at Llandudno in Wales on Friday and Saturday, October 27 and 28.