First podium of year for Duns rally driver Garry Pearson

​This year’s Ypres Rally was only his second event in his new Melvyn Evans Motorsport-prepared Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 and his second too alongside co-driver Daniel Barritt, as well as being his first outing at the Belgian course and his first abroad in a four-wheel-drive car.

The 31-year-old wasn’t fazed by charting unfamiliar territory in a new motor and with a new sidekick, however, and put in his best performance of the current campaign to lift himself up into the championship leaderboard’s top five.

Opting for a cautious approach, the Borderer picked up pace as the 18-stage rally went on and he and Burnley’s Barritt, 42, got to know the 137-mile track better.

He got into the top five early on and moved up places as rivals were caught out by the track’s ditches, edging up to third place by the end of Saturday’s first loop of stages to secure his best rally result for over a year.

“Ultimately, this was the result we went for and we are absolutely delighted to get it,” said the four-time Scottish rally champion.

“It certainly wasn’t an easy rally, that’s for sure.

“Our tactic for the weekend was to have a reasonable go in certain places and at certain times but not with the idea of taking risks.

“We needed to go out and gain experience, and that’s exactly what we did.

“It’s incredibly satisfying for the whole team as a lot of hard work went into achieving this result.

“It’s never a bad weekend when you’re standing on the podium spraying Champagne.

“It was an amazing event, one of the best that I’ve done.”

Pearson wasn’t disconcerted by the winning margin claimed by French driver Adrien Fourmaux either, regarding it as an insight into the size of the gulf he’ll need to try to bridge to challenge higher up the leaderboard.

“It’s an expensive event to do but a great event to learn new driving techniques,” he said.

“The speed that the top guys carry through the cuts is certainly something that I can work on, but that’s what we wanted to learn.

“Although we got the podium, we were several minutes behind the winner, so it’s good to see where we are compared to him and use that to better our own performance.

“I must thank Melvyn Evans Motorsport as they were phenomenal throughout the entire weekend – they’re a very professional team – and thanks to Dan as well as he helped guide me through and make sure I wasn't taking any unnecessary risks.

“Hankook were out there supporting us as well and the tyres were bang on all weekend. Major thanks to them for coming out and giving us tyre advice.”

Pearson now takes a break for the summer and resumes his British championship campaign at the Modern Tyres Ulster Rally at Newry in Northern Ireland on Friday and Saturday, August 18 and 19.

He goes into that fourth round fifth in the standings, on 23 points from three rounds. That’s 57 behind front-runner Fourmaux, winner of all three rounds so far, but only 13 adrift of second-placed Keith Cronin.

That trip across the Irish Sea is followed by the Get Connected Rali Ceredigion at Aberystwyth in Wales on Saturday and Sunday, September 2 and 3, and Filey’s Trackrod Rally Yorkshire on Friday and Saturday, September 22 and 23.

This year’s finale is the Visit Conwy Cambrian Rally at Llandudno in Wales on Friday and Saturday, October 27 and 28.