Duns driver Garry Pearson targeting back-to-back British Rally Championship podium placings

​The 31-year-old, accompanied by co-driver Daniel Barritt, finished as runner-up in round four of the current championship season, the Ulster Rally, and is hoping to follow up that career-best performance with another top-three finish at the Aberystwyth-based Rali Ceredigion this coming Saturday and Sunday.

The championship’s fifth round will see drivers compete over 100 miles of Tarmac stages in the Welsh moorlands, including two street stages in the event’s host town.

Four-time Scottish rally champion Pearson heads to Wales in second place on the championship leaderboard with 45 points, 60 behind French front-runner Adrien Fourmaux and nine ahead of third-placed Irish driver Keith Cronin.

“It’s great to be going back to Ceredigion. I really enjoyed the rally last year,” said the Borderer.

“It was certainly a challenge, with some tricky stages, but that’s what you want as a driver.

“There are a lot of new stages this year, so for sure there’s a lot of work to do beforehand to make sure we understand them.”

He’s hoping to keep hold of second place going into the penultimate round of the championship, the Trackrod Rally Yorkshire at Filey on Friday and Saturday, September 22 and 23, saying: “Two podiums from our last two events have been great for our confidence and I feel like I’m making good steps with both my speed on Tarmac and my comfort with the Volkswagen Polo GTi R5, but we’ve got to keep one eye on the championship so it won’t be an all-out push.

“Gravel is still my strongest surface, so we may go on a bigger attack on the next round in Yorkshire, but this weekend we’ll be prioritising gaining experience as Rali Ceredigion is a rally that can punish even the smallest of mistakes.

“If we could get another podium, that would be great, but we need to make sure we arrive at the finish in Aberystwyth with some good points to consolidate second place in the championship. That’s the plan.”