Duns driver Euan Thorburn wins fourth Scorrish Rally Championship title at Banchory

Four-time Scottish rally champion Euan Thorburn and co-driver Keir Beaton taking part in the weekend's Grampian Forest Rally (Photo: AF Motorsport Media/Becksport Media)

Duns drivers Euan Thorburn and Garry Pearson were both in action at the weekend’s Grampian Forest Rally, with the former clinching his fourth Scottish Rally Championship title.

Thorburn, 37, adds this year’s title to prior wins in 2014, 2017 and 2019 but a champion co-driver is yet to be decided.

Sidekick Keir Beaton was back alongside Thorburn once again in his Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 in Aberdeenshire, but his elder brother Paul could yet pip him to the post as he accompanied the Dinger at the Borders’ Jim Clark Rally in May and the Argyll Rally in June.

Thorburn and the younger Beaton claimed an overnight lead in the Scottish championship last Friday and also won on Saturday by 26 seconds, placing ninth both days and overall in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2.

Pearson, Scottish rally champion in 2021 but now contesting the British Rally Championship alongside co-driver Daniel Barritt, was eighth on Friday and seventh on Saturday and all told.

The eight-point haul that showing earned Pearson, leaving him fifth in the standings on 38 with only two rounds to go, sees him slip further behind front-runner William Creighton, now trailing him by 32 rather than 27, but the 32-year-old was happy with that, given that he was competing on gravel for the first time since April and had problems including a puncture to contend with.

“The Grampian has always been one of my favourite events, so it was great fun to head back up into the forests this year in the M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2,” said Pearson.

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t our best result, with a few issues setting us back, but it was a really enjoyable two days in the car, with lots of things learned for the future.

“The guys at the very front of the championship are on an unreal pace but it was great to be fighting Meirion Evans and Jonny Greer so closely, even if we didn’t quite manage to beat them.

“With each passing event, we are learning more and more about the car and last weekend was another step in the right direction.

“We will be looking to put that to good use at our next event, Rali Ceredigion.”

That next rally, based in Aberystwyth in Wales, starts on Saturday, August 31.