Garry Pearson is ready to fight for the podium as the British Rally Championship returns to his home event, the Jim Clark Rally based in Duns, next weekend [May 24/25].
Round three of this year’s British championship, the Jim Clark is a classic on the British rally calendar – debuting in the BRC some 25 years ago and still going strong today.
Held on closed public roads in the lanes of the Scottish Borders, the stages are notoriously fast and reward drivers with the utmost commitment. Once again co-driven by the super-experienced Daniel Barritt, Pearson is looking forward to his homecoming aboard an M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2.
“It’s always special to compete at home, but having spent the last couple of seasons competing at the very top of British rallying, I’m able to mentally approach it like any other rally with the same points on offer. Of course I want to do well, but I want to do well on every event,” Pearson said
“The Jim Clark is definitely one of my stronger rallies, but I wouldn’t say that’s because of any local knowledge. A lot of the stages haven’t really changed over the years so ultimately a lot of the competition have great experience and knowledge of them too.
“I’m really looking forward to the extra mileage this year though, it’s a bit more like the old days of the rally,” the 32-year-old added.
“Instead of just two stages on Friday we’ll now do six, so the leg has a lot more body to it. It feels like Friday night has more purpose, so credit to the organisers for giving us some more stages and of course bringing the famous Langton spectator stage back as well.”
Although Pearson’s Jim Clark didn’t go to plan last year he finished a fantastic third overall in 2022, so he’s hoping to return to the rostrum this time around.
“I’m quite confident with the car,” he said. “Take away some of the issues we had at the North West Stages and we posted some respectable times. I finished third at the Jim Clark two years ago before it was significantly developed, so I have the capability to do well I think.
“A podium would be a great result, of course, but I think we need to be realistic as well. My experience and speed is growing but the competition is so fierce in the British Rally Championship this year, so all things considered a top-five would also be a really good result – particularly for our championship going forward.”
