Top-five finish for Duns rally driver Garry Pearson in Wales

Saturday’s Rallynuts Severn Valley Stages was round two of 2024’s championship and also Pearson’s first gravel race since joining forces with Cumbria’s M-Sport and getting back behind the wheel of a Ford Fiesta Rally2.

The 62-mile Welsh race is now half a century old but this year’s edition was its first as part of the British championship.

Pearson, last year’s championship runner-up, says he’s happy to have picked up points alongside co-driver Daniel Barritt and made up some ground on 2024’s front-runners after only just scraping into the top ten in round one at Garstang in Lancashire last month.

The 32-year-old was fifth quickest over Saturday’s opening stage but a spin later on cost him any chance of moving up the field ahead of contesting round three on home turf at next month’s Jim Clark Rally.

“Considering how challenging the day was, we’ll take fifth place with both hands,” he said.

“It’s extremely useful points for our championship and I’m pleased to have had a solid outing for our second event with M-Sport.

“The conditions were foggy and tricky, so the grip was always changing. You really had to be on your toes.

“Fair play to the guys ahead of us – they were setting some pace.

“We had one spin in the afternoon, which probably cost us 20 to 25 seconds, so without that, we would have been a lot closer, but in general we have to be happy.

“The British championship is super-competitive this year, which is great as it will only bring our pace on even more.”

Looking ahead to competing in the Borders from Friday, May 24, Pearson added: “There's a bit of a gap now before the next event, the Jim Clark Rally, but as it’s on my local roads, that’s always one I look forward to.

“We’ll be doing plenty of preparation to hopefully repeat our podium there from two years ago.”

An entry list is out now for the Berwickshire rally at https://www.rallies.info/webentry/2024/jimclark/entries.php?type=u

Fellow Rally2 drivers took the top-two places in Wales at the weekend, Welsh driver Osian Pryce, with Rhodri Evans alongside, finishing first and Ireland’s William Creighton and co-driver Liam Regan claiming the event’s silver medal.