Lanarkshire rally driver Alick Kerr made an encouraging start to his four-wheel drive rally career with a solid performance on Saturday’s Station Garage Mitsubishi Granite City Rally.

Kerr (20) and co-driver Drew Sturrock (19) overcame suspension dramas halfway through the rally to record some strong times and gain experience behind the wheel of the Grant Construction Subaru Impreza.

Bothwell driver Kerr had never driven any four-wheel drive car on a stage rally, let alone his new machine, prior to heading up to Aberdeen for the third round of the Hankook Scottish Rally Championship.

He wasted no time in getting to grips with the car, setting ninth equal fastest time overall on the opening Durris stage and then stopping the clocks twelfth fastest on the next Fetteresso test.

It all came apart – quite literally – on the following stage when a bolt came out from the front left suspension, causing the spring to move and puncture a tyre. Alick and Drew feared it was the end of their rally, but on inspection at the end of the stage they were able to fix the suspension with a wrong-sized bolt and limp back to service.

Thanks to the generosity of another crew, the Grant Construction Subaru was soon on its way again in one piece, and in spite of rain later on in the day the team made it to the end in one piece. Sixteenth overall and fifth in class was the reward for reaching the finish on a challenging rally, but more importantly the young crew have one event in a highly competitive car under their belts.

“Admittedly we were on the ragged edge a bit on the first stage, but ninth overall is a good time for the first competitive run in a new car,” reckons foundry engineer Alick. “The most important thing today was to get experience with the new car and try and get a sensible result, and we managed both of those things.”

“The car ran very well and the engine didn’t miss a beat all day,” adds Kerr. “I was particularly impressed with the Hankook tyres we were using, as they had a good wear rate and, apart from the problem with the spring which you can’t control, they didn’t puncture at all.”

With no tarmac equipment available for the car, the Alick Kerr Motorsport team look set to sit out the Jim Clark Reivers Rally at the end of May. The next outing for the crew in the Hankook Scottish Rally Championship is therefore likely to be the RSAC Scottish Rally in Dumfries on Saturday 27 June.

Further information on the team can be found at www.alickkerr.com