Junior rally driver Alick Kerr has had to take on some pretty fierce competition already this season, but none as stern as the opponent he has to defeat if he is to even start the Merrick Forest Stages next weekend.

The Bothwell driver’s Alick Kerr Motorsport team faces a race against time to get the Leaker Direct Subaru Impreza back to full fettle for the Newton Stewart rally after gearbox trauma several weeks ago.

21 year-old Alick, meanwhile, is raring to go after a storming drive to fifth place on his last outing in the car. The mechanical dramas started when Kerr took the Impreza out on a test session with his friend and mentor, former Scottish Rally Champion Jon Burn. Just three miles into the test, the car’s gearbox input shaft failed – and finding a replacement has proved difficult.

“Prodrive, who run Subarus in the World Championship and built my car in the first place, didn’t have any parts available so we had to scout around a bit,” explains Kerr. “We finally managed to source one through the Australian driver Andrew Pinker, but it’s not going to arrive with us until the Wednesday before the rally.”

“The car then needs to have the gearbox re-fitted and its suspension set up again, and after that it still has to go in for an MOT before we can take it to the rally!” he continues. “The timing is going to be very tight, but we’ll be pulling out all the stops to make sure we’re lining up for the start in Newton Stewart.”

Mechanical gremlins aside, the foundry engineer is more fired-up than ever before after bringing his car home in fifth position overall on the last round of the Hankook Scottish Rally Championship. The Merrick is the seventh round of the eight-round Scottish series, and Alick has a strong result in his sights.

“On the last rally I set the fastest time overall on one stage and was third-fastest on another,” he explains. “Perhaps more importantly, I realised that on stages when I didn’t have any problems or make any mistakes I was on the pace of the leading guys, so if everything goes well then I’m hoping for a good result.”

Marykirk co-driver Drew Sturrock is equally motivated. “Our aim is for a podium finish this time out,” declares the MSA Rally Academy member. “There’s still more to come out of the driver and the car, so we’re definitely aiming to improve on the great results we’ve had so far.”

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