Scottish rally driver Garry Pearson salvaged vital British Rally Championship (BRC) points from a difficult weekend at Rali Ceredigion where fortune deserted him.
The M-Sport driver, who turned 34 on the Sunday of September 5-7 event, has made fantastic progress throughout the 2025 season alongside co-driver Hannah McKillop, and looked to continue that trend as the BRC met up with the FIA European Rally Championship.
Registered for both championships, Pearson knew fighting for an overall podium would be difficult but settled well into the event, running comfortably inside the top-10 in the early stages.
However the demanding 34km Y Diafol stage (translated as ‘The Devil’ in English) would unfortunately catch the Duns-based driver out, as his car unexpectedly snapped at the rear and caused him to hit a gate post with significant force.
While he and McKillop expertly got their wounded Fiesta to the end of the stage, FIA scrutineers deemed the car unsafe to continue and they were forced to retire for the day.
Restarting on Sunday, Pearson rescued some important points for his BRC campaign and despite completing the final loop of stages on dry tyres when the rain lashed it down, he posted some strong times against Europe’s best rally drivers to end his weekend on a positive note.
“I said before the event that Rali Ceredigion is probably the most demanding rally in the UK, and I stand by that after the weekend. They’re great roads to drive but any error is severely punished.
“It was a big disappointment to have to miss so many stages on Saturday, but I’m proud of the progress we made compared to last year and the efforts of the team, and Hannah and I in the car, to keep us going.
“Congratulations to the entire M-Sport team on the 1-2 result with my team-mates Jon Armstrong and Romet Jürgenson. We’ve all been putting a lot of work in this season and have found some good improvements with the Ford Fiesta Rally2, so it was fantastic for that to be shown on the biggest stage.
“Of course we hoped for more from Ceredigion ourselves, however in motorsport it’s not about how you’re knocked down but instead how you get back up. We are still inside the top-five of the championship heading into the season finale at the end of next month, and the Cambrian is an event I’ve won before in the BRC so we’ll be giving it a good push.
