Duns driver Garry Pearson prioritising points over podium placings at 2026’s Grampian Forest Rally

Though tied with Dumfries and Galloway’s Mark McCulloch on 125 points from five rounds and with two still to go, Pearson could claim this year’s title to add to 2021’s this weekend due to drivers counting only their five best scores from a maximum of seven.

Having racked up four wins on the bounce puts the 34-year-old in pole position, meaning that McCulloch needs to get the better of him at Banchory to remain in the running and take this year’s title race to a decider at September’s Galloway Hills Rally finale.

With the International Automobile Federation’s World Rally Championship taking in Scotland in 2027, Saturday and Sunday’s rally has attracted a field including many of the front-runners for that title looking for a sneak preview of the Scottish forest stages they’ll be contesting next year – such as Northern Ireland’s Jon Armstrong, France’s Yohan Rossel and Russian-born Nikolay Gryazin.

Pearson is determined not to be distracted by that opportunity to test himself against some of the world’s leading drivers, however, and will instead be out to pick up the maximum points possible to count towards both this year’s Scottish and British championships, it being this season’s first full crossover event.

He’ll be reunited with Norham-based co-driver Hannah McKillop in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2 for round three of five making up 2026’s British championship and six of seven for the Scottish version after being accompanied by County Durham’s Jack Morton for his last two outings.

Though his home-town’s Jim Clark Rally in May hosted both championships, this weekend’s is the only one in their two calendars offering potential to pick up points for both on overlapping stages, two this Friday evening and eight more on Saturday, totalling 56 miles.

“The Grampian is going to be a special event this year with so many world-class drivers coming, including the leader of the World Rally Championship, Elfyn Evans, but as much as I’d love to race these guys, I need to keep my eyes on our target for the season, which is doing well in the championships,” said Pearson.

“We’ve been on an amazing run of form in the Scottish Rally Championship this year, giving us a chance of winning it for the second time this weekend.

“We never set out to win the Scottish championship this year, instead entering events as preparation for the British Rally Championship, but when the results kept coming, it made sense to keep going.

“I’m looking forward to getting stuck into a two-day event and working with Hannah again as we haven’t been in the car together since our Jim Clark Reivers’ Rally victory in May.

“Of course we are aiming for the best result we can get, but, above all, I believe this is going to be a fantastic weekend for Scottish rallying and I can’t wait to be a part of it.”

Pearson is currently fourth in the British championship’s standings on 25 points from two rounds, 15 behind Welsh front-runner Osian Pryce but with three rounds still to go, the latter two of them in Wales – September’s Rali Ceredigion and October’s Cambrian Rally.