​Third place for Borders driver Garry Pearson in round two of 2025’s British Rally Championship

​The 33-year-old picked up his first points of this season at the weekend’s second round in Northumberland’s Kielder Forest after drawing a blank in round one at Beverley, near Hull, in February.

Four-time Scottish champion Pearson, with Melrose’s Hannah McKillop as co-driver, is targeting a fourth top-five finish on the trot, having ended up fifth in 2024 and in his 2022 debut season and second in 2023.

Northern Ireland-born McKillop, 30, takes over from Lancashire’s Dan Barritt in Pearson’s passenger seat this time round.

The Borders pair, racing for Cumbria’s M-Sport in a Ford Fiesta Rally2, were fifth fastest on the first of five stages over 50 miles, moving up to fourth later on despite a handbrake issue resolved during a service between stages and then to third after stage four, his first podium placing of this season.

Pearson is delighted to have finished behind only Estonia’s Romet Jurgenson and Siim Oja and Northern Ireland’s William Creighton and Liam Regan ahead of round three in his native Borders next month, saying: “This is what all our hard work is for.

“Having shown our pace on the opening round, it was fantastic to match that with a result on stages as challenging as those at Kielder.

“It wasn’t the most straightforward of days but we knuckled down and, as always, M-Sport proved why they are the best in the business by sorting out our little issues to keep us in the hunt.

“What I’m proudest of, however, is the clear evidence of the work Hannah and I have put in over the winter. I think it’s noticeable the step up we’ve made in pace, and long may it continue, but having tasted the champagne on round two, we are only thirstier for more.

“Congratulations to our teammate Romet Jurgenson for taking the win, securing a 1-3 for M-Sport. For myself, it was cool to share the podium with two junior world rally champions, but our aim is to be beating them soon.

"Next up is my home event, the Jim Clark Rally, so naturally I am looking forward to that, but the hard work has already begun.”

Duns-based round three takes place on Friday, May 23, and the day after and it’s followed by August’s Grampian Forest Rally in Aberdeenshire and two Welsh rallies, at Aberystwyth in September and Llandudno in October.

Though Jurgenson and Oja, also in a Fiesta Rally2, won Saturday’s Cumbrian-based but Northumbrian-staged round, Creighton and Regan, second in their Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, remain at the top of this year’s leaderboard thanks to their victory in round one two months prior.