Duns drivers Garry Pearson, Euan Thorburn and Dale Robertson to go up against each other again at their home-town’s Jim Clark Rally

The three-day event is round three of six of this year’s British Rally Championship for Pearson and it includes round two of 2025’s Scottish Rally Championship for Thorburn as he continues his defence of his fourth national title.

2021 Scottish rally champion Pearson, with Newstead’s Hannah McKillop as co-driver, will be driving a Ford Fiesta Rally2 for Cumbria’s M-Sport and he goes into this year’s first all-Scottish round joint-sixth on the British championship’s leaderboard on 15 points, 18 behind front-runner William Creighton, after placing third last time out at April’s Carlisle Stages, contested mostly in Northumberland but also venturing into the Borders.

Thorburn, behind the wheel of a Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 with Highlander Paul Beaton alongside him, is third in the Scottish championship’s standings with 27 points, three shy of the top spot currently occupied by Dumfries driver David Bogie.

Robertson, with Keir Beaton as his sidekick, will also be driving a Fiesta Rally2 and he goes into this year’s Jim Clark Rally, the 49th to be run since 1970 as a tribute to Berwickshire’s late Formula One world champion of that name, not having competed since 2024’s edition.

Thorburn, Pearson and Robertson all racked up top-ten finishes last time round.

Thorburn, 38, was the only one to claim an overall podium place, finishing third in a total time of 1:15:27.9 and also winning the Sunday’s Jim Clark Reivers’ Rally, with Paul Beaton, of Inverness, accompanying him.

Pearson, 33, was third among the British Rally Championship challengers competing and sixth all together, in 1:16:34.8, with Lancashire’s Daniel Barritt as co-driver.

Robertson, 41, and Kelso co-driver Douglas Redpath were ninth overall in 1:19:39.5.​

2024’s overall winner was four-time British rally champion Cronin, also in a Rally2, in 1:14:59.8, with Mikie Galvin alongside him, and that was his third victory at the Borders rally following previous first-place finishes in 2012 and 2022, a record he holds jointly with fellow Irishmen Andrew Nesbitt and Roger Clark.

The last time the main event was won by a Borderer was back in 1998, by Kelso’s late Dom Buckley Snr, with Neil Ewing as his co-driver.

Other Borders drivers among a field of 200-plus are Coldstream’s Des Campbell, accompanied by Kelso’s Craig Forsyth, in a Peugeot 206; Cockburnspath’s Peter Fleming, with Exeter’s Sophie Buckland on notes, in a Ford Escort Mark 2; Alistair Crawford and co-driver Greg Halfpenny, both of Hawick, in an Escort; Gordon’s Scott Russell and companion Adam Russell, of Galashiels, in a Vauxhall Corsa; Ross Hunter of St Boswells and a co-driver to be confirmed in a Peugeot 208; and further Dingers Max Redpath and Callum Redpath accompanying in a Subaru Impreza, Peter Mosgrove and Berwick sidekick David Hay in a Mitsubishi Evo 3 and Richard Holdsworth and Stocksfield’s Liam Charlton alongside in an Escort.

This year’s rally, sponsored by Eyemouth-based Borders Competitions, is being run over its longest route for over a dozen years, up from 88 miles in 2024 to 101.

Following a ceremonial start in Duns town square on the 23rd, it will begin with stages at Langton Mill, Fogo and Bothwell, all being negotiated twice, covering 46 competitive miles in total.

Saturday the 24th’s 55 miles of stages start with another drive through Langton, followed by others at Edrom, Blackadder and Polwarth, again all repeated.

Sunday the 25th’s 60-mile Jim Clark Reivers Rally also sets off from Duns square and it features stages at Westruther, Mack’s Mill, Scott’s View near Melrose and Eccles.

Leading the field for the first two days will be Estonia’s Romet Jurgenson, current junior world rally champion and second on the British championship leaderboard at the moment as well as being an M-Sport teammate of Pearson’s also in a Fiesta Rally2, to be co-driven by Siim Oja.

Northern Ireland’s Creighton, 27, and County Cork’s Cronin, 38, are both sitting out the Jim Clark Rally, the former due to family commitments and the latter ruled out by a crash at County Kerry’s Rally of the Lakes at the weekend, offering an opportunity for British championship rivals such as Pearson to pick up points in their absence.

The Sunday rally will be contested by a field of more than 120, including Thorburn, seeking a fourth win on the bounce, and Pearson and Robertson too.

See also …

https://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/sport/other-sport/duns-driver-garry-pearson-sets-sights-on-second-british-rally-championship-podium-placing-on-trot-ahead-of-home-town-round-5131011