Duns driver Garry Pearson to contest Border Counties Rally for first time in seven years

That 48-mile race, made up of seven stages forming round two of this year’s Scottish Rally Championship, takes place on Saturday, March 14, and it will be the 34-year-old’s first competitive outing of 2026.

Four-time Motorsport UK National Rally champion Pearson hasn’t taken part in the Newtown-based rally since 2019 but is looking forward to having another crack at it as preparation for his next title tilt.

He has contested other Scottish championship rounds since winning his homeland title in 2021, however, finishing first at 2024’s Snowman Rally in the Highlands and last year’s Scottish Rally in Dumfries and Galloway.

Melrose’s Hannah McKillop will be carrying on from his last British Rally Championship campaign as co-driver in his Ford Fiesta Rally2.

The Hawick and Border Car Club rally, launched in 1974, is an event Pearson has yet to win, though he has finished as runner-up twice, but he says he’s not planning to go all out in pursuit of victory, regarding it more as a warm-up for the season ahead than an opportunity to add another prize to add to his collection.

“It’s been a long four months out of the car, so I can’t wait to get back into the action at the Border Counties Rally,” said the Borderer.

“I’m a competitor, so of course we will be keeping a small eye on times, but that’s not the primary objective. We simply want to get back into the swing of things again and support an event that’s local to us.

“The mission therefore is to experiment and get dialled in behind the wheel of a rally car again rather than chase a result.

“It’s also nice to return to the Scottish championship, a series we won in 2021, and catch up with some familiar faces.

“The Border Counties Rally is the perfect warm-up for us as we prepare for the year ahead. I can’t wait to share those plans soon.”

Though yet to confirm his plans for the season ahead, Pearson has contested the British Rally Championship for the last four years, finishing fifth in 2022, 2024 and 2025 and second in 2023.

North Yorkshire’s Elliot Payne has won the Border Counties Rally for the last four years on the bounce.

It was last won by a Borderer, Euan Thorburn, also of Duns, in 2019 and that was also the last time it counted as a Scottish championship round, having been part of the British Trial and Rally Drivers’ Association Championship in the interim.

Entries don’t close until next week but four-time Scottish champion Thorburn, 39, is among those to have thrown their hats into the ring, along with four-time winner David Bogie, of Dumfries.