Alick Kerr scored one of the best results of his rally career with a stunning fourth place outright and first in class on Sunday’s Ciceley Commercials Autumn Stages. Lanarkshire driver Kerr and stand-in co-driver Steven Brown blitzed the stages round historic Drumlanrig Castle to record a stunning finish in the Leaker Direct Rangemaster Fiesta ST.

The fine drive also sets 20 year-old Kerr up perfectly for the all-important Colin McRae Forest Stages in two weeks’ time. With the Autumn Stages being restricted to two-wheel drive cars only, Kerr and Brown started the rally to the north-east of Dumfries as one of the leading contenders.

With a strong field including some of Scotland’s most competitive Mark 2 Ford Escorts, however, the Fiesta crew knew it wouldn’t be an easy ride. “The three Escorts in front of us were lightning quick, and there was no chance we were going to catch them – even when I was going flat out they were still taking time out of us easily,” admitted Bothwell driver Alick, who snatched fourth place with a strong time on the final test. “Having said that I was delighted to beat Ivor Clark on the last stage, because he wasn’t holding back in the Hillman Avenger.”

As well as ending the day fourth overall, Alick and Steven finished first in the Open class for non-historic rally cars, and their time on the last stage was only one second off the time set by overall rally winner and renowned two-wheel drive competitor Keith Robathan. “There were no problems at all really, it was a good, incident-free run and with no championships at stake I was able to relax a bit and go for an outright result,” explained the foundry engineer, who welcomed Aberdeen doctor Brown into the co-driver’s seat for a one-off appearance. “Steven Brown did a good job on the notes as well, and even though the stages were a bit bumpy in places they were great fun to drive.”

On the back of a blistering result Alick Kerr can now turn his attention to the Colin McRae Forest Stages on Saturday, 27 September, when he resumes battle in both the VK Fiesta Sporting Trophy and County Saab Scottish Rally Championship. With a bumper field of rally legends from the past expected to join the Scottish rallying regulars, all eyes are set to be on the Perthshire forests in two weeks’ time.

However, Alick is as focussed as ever on his SRC and Fiesta ST goals. “We need other people to run into difficulty if we are to have a chance of taking the Scottish junior title, but as long as we get a sensible finish we have a good chance of winning our championship class,” reflects the Ford Fiesta driver. “Having said that, we will be back onto the Scotmaps route notes for the McRae, and I feel I can drive on those with more commitment than on the notes we’ve been using in the Fiestas all year long. So I’ll be looking to take the fight to the other Sporting Trophy drivers.”